Something Wicked This Way Comes
by pelhampronghorn
Summary: Danny and Eve are two Muggles, on a cross-Europe hike after graduation when they stumble upon a world of witches and wizards. Accepted into Pronghorn Finishing School, they soon discover that not all magic is good. OC heavy. Pretty much OC full. Language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! pronghorn here, introducing our breakout masterpiece, _Something Wicked This Way Comes_. This is gonna be a long one, and is very OC heavy, but we think you'll enjoy. So, have fun!**

The pathetic branch stretched out like a spindly finger, deformed and crooked, the peeling bark looking as if it had been burned away. Despite the black and burnt appearance of its bark, however, the smooth white wood was glistening with droplets of water, quivering as the two travelers passed by it. The mud and decay of the bog clung onto their every step, a loud, wet sound sucking them back in as they struggled to pull their feet up from the muck.

"Hey, look- an apple," Eve said, adjusting the heavy pack on her back as to better point to the shriveled fruit hanging on the tip of the branch. The apple might have once been red, but had since faded to a dark brown, the loose skin of the fruit looking as if it were about to fall and sink into the bog. Eve reached out for it, struggling to pull herself out of the claws of the mud long enough to grasp it.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Danny commented, almost losing his balance at the sudden stop in their long, slow trudge through the fog-laden swamp. He swatted at a fly buzzing angrily around his head, and reached out to stop Eve's hand. Her fingers brushed the fruit, and it fell with a sick thud on the surface of the muck, sinking into it slowly and joining the decay that now oozed into both of their shoes. "You can't really trust much of the food in here. Hell, the birds are barely touching the stuff." The pair paused a moment, listening to the occasional call of the birds in the sunken trees the crowned the hazy sky.

"Well, what do they eat then?" Eve asked, pulling on her thigh to detach it from the muck before continuing on their long trudge.

"I don't know. Americans dumb enough to want to hike through Europe," Danny taunted, mimicking the thick Russian accent of the locals. The two laughed a moment, and the sound echoed between the crooked trees, frightening a flock of birds into flight with a cacophony of desperate caws. This, in turn, made Danny jump; he pushed Eve forward, his head down, as if to say move faster, move faster. She complied, unnerved by the unnatural silence of the swamp, rubbing her stomach to relieve the sharp pains of hunger.

"Well, what are we going to eat?" she complained after a moment.

"The same thing the locals do. Americans dumb enough to want to hike through Europe." In ordinary circumstances, they would have laughed again, but now they understood the grim reality of their situation. They were alone in the middle of an unnamed swamp, flies buzzing as if waiting for them to be sucked into the mire, their food supplies running out, their maps gone to the belly of the swamp and their energy nearly there, too. Danny saw Eve shift in discomfort, and thought a moment. "Maybe we should stop for the night."

"Do we even know its night? The sky's looked the same since we wandered into this place." She was right; the heavens were but a rolling sea of tumultuous greys, threatening storms riding on the winds that crept between the trees and rolled the fog over the mire. She knew that her question would go unanswered, and kept on walking, walking, endlessly walking and fighting through the thick sludge.

The swamp was like some kind of twisted, burned architecture, pools of stagnant water marking the paths of stinking mud that lay between the pillars of deformed trees. Sometimes, a bird would call its name and that name would echo through the halls, and sometimes the travelers would pass a tree and not notice its residents until they looked into their glittering, beady black eyes as their bedraggled wings thrust them into the dismal sky.

The clicking of insects and the buzzing of flies around their faces soon faded into the background, white noise in this world of greys and blacks, a world without colour or life. Every once in a while, Eve would cry out in surprise or relief at the sight of an emerald dragonfly resting on a half-sunken log, its scaly thin body glittering despite the gloomy light. Sometimes Danny would look behind them, shivering as he realized that the mud had swallowed their footsteps behind them and left them stranded in the Bulgarian wilderness.

"My feet hurt," pointed out Eve blandly, attempting to strike up a conversation in the uncomfortable silence. With mud seeping into his boots and more and more insects flocking to buzz around his head, Danny's reply was terse.

"Yeah, well so do mine." Eve blinked at his tone, stopping midstep, trying to turn around and nearly knocking Danny over in the effort of the gesture.

"Well, I bet your boobs don't hurt, do they?" grumbled Eve, crossing her arms over her ample chest. Danny bit his lip, smiling a little bit despite himself.

"You're wearing that stupid bra you bought last week aren't you?" Eve paused, and then giggled, pulling her sleeve back to show her bra strap and blowing her friend an air kiss, mirth glowing in her eyes as she resisted laughter.

"I am, actually." Danny snorted and shook his head.

"How did I know. Better question, why do I know?" Eve smiled wickedly.

"For the same reason I know you're wearing red and black plaid boxers." Danny froze and spun to face her, again nearly falling as the mud slurped at him, suspicion on his handsome, if sweaty, face. Eve laughed. "Your pants slipped down because of the mud, chico." she said, snapping the elastic band at his waist. Danny glared and she laughed out loud. That tended to be her only voice setting, Danny noted. Loud. They walked on in comfortable silence, exhausted but still fighting onwards in the hope of reaching solid ground. Danny was beginning to lose that hope; he could feel it slipping from his grasp no matter how tightly he held on. Eve, however, still seemed pleasantly in denial.

When they felt that they could walk no more without their tired muscles bursting into flame, a blessing was cast their way from a god neither of them were sure they believed in. Danny's feet, mud covered and leaden, touched solid ground. He climbed onto the muddy bank, relishing in being free of the mire, and wiped the back of a hand across his brow, the skin cracked and dry. Eve attempted to follow but her bag caught on one of the low-hung tree branches, sending her sprawling into the mud with an 'oof'.

Danny couldn't help it, he laughed. Eve's glare melted into a soft smile as she regarded her friend from her marshy throne.

"I'm glad I amuse you." Danny wiped tears from his eyes, stepping forward to offer her a hand. She took it, getting about halfway out of the bog before mud caused her fingers to slip and she plummeted back into the grime. Eve looked up at Danny, a slightly hysterical glint to her eyes, before she crawled on her hands and knees out of the gunk, heaving herself up to where he stood before dropping to the ground with exhaustion. Danny watched her carefully, there was no indication the girl was alive. He nudged her with the steel toe of his boot and she grumbled. It was alive, then.

"Come on, Eve. Let's move a little farther before it gets dark." Eve reached out with a shaking arm and gripped his left pant leg in her filthy fist. Again her grip slipped, but already the mud had begun to cake on her palm; she was fine to be able to stand, but sank back into the mud, lying on the surface as if dozing. Her eyes closed in a mocking peacefulness as she spoke.

"Not yet you Nazi, let me catch my breath." Danny sighed and dumped his pack before easing his lean body onto the ground next to her. They lay there heaving, staring at the swollen clouds above, thick with rain, listening to the sound of each other's breathing. Suddenly Eve sat up, looking at her friend with an altogether morose expression on her face.

"Danny, am I going to die a virgin?" Danny blinked and then sighed, wondering where the question came from; this was a girl, who, through all of their years together, had never seemed mildly irritated for very long, surely not thinking about things like boys. The pair had always been opposites in that sense. And yet, it seemed that the gloom was beginning to break the girl's almost infallible optimism.

"You know, I've never even kissed a guy." Danny frowned, trying to remember, his brow furrowing as his mind ran over countless memories of high school.

"Sure you did, wasn't there that curly haired kid… oh, what's his name?" Danny wracked his brain but drew a blank.

"That was not by choice, and you know it." Eve said with a sigh, cracking her neck with an audible pop. Danny heard and felt his bones groan with the need to be snapped; he copied her, his own neck popping in the dense fog.

"Fine." said Danny after a while, massaging his now aching neck, uncrossing his long legs and grinning sarcastically. "You're going to die a virgin." Eve laughed and patted Danny's cheek, her energy restored.

"Let's go." The pair struggled to their aching feet and resumed their trudging side by side. Cool wind whistled through the trees, tickling Danny's face. He breathed in deeply, an attempt to alleviate his growing anxiety, and stopped, his fingers reaching out and grasping Eve's mud encrusted shoulder. Something was riding the wind, and in the distance, he could hardly make out the lines of a darker, denser grey against that of the sky. Eve didn't notice his hand, at first, and he shook her, trying to get her attention.

"Do you smell that?" Eve's brow wrinkled in confusion and she took a long draw on the air. He crossed his fingers, praying that it wasn't just some desperate hope of a lost traveler.

"Wood smoke!" she exclaimed, surprised, her eyes glinting with comprehension. Danny grinned, nodding furiously, relief coursing through his body and making his knees weak.

"Where's there's smoke, there'll people. Come on!" The pair's steps quickened, their boots snapping twigs and crushing withered underbrush in their haste. Somehow now their steps were lighter, the mud didn't seem to stick, the packs on their backs not weighing down on them so much as they ran as fast as their aching muscles would allow through the bog.

The endless flat planes of the bog soon gave way to a small rise, then another, another, neither of them noticing that there was less mud to bar their way as they climbed up the ever-heightening hills. The scent of the fires was growing stronger, and what was once but a small touch of desperate hope now held the taste of bonfire ash and burning wood. The smoke rose in pillars above the crest of the hill, but as they ascended higher and higher their packs grew heavy again, and Danny's legs began to burn with the agony of every steep step.

He collapsed, using the rocky hillside as a seat to rest his aching muscles. "Wait," he gasped for air to Eve, who hadn't noticed his collapse in her joyous hope of finding some form of civilization in the swampy wasteland. She spun around wildly, searching for him and seeing him lying sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving with the effort. "You know," he laughed, wincing with the pain of the sharp intake of the rapidly cooling air, "for as much as I work out, and for all those damn gym classes I took in high school…" He trailed off.

Eve laughed. "Come on, I can only make it because I played softball. You can make it, it's not that much farther to the top of the hill." His eyes closed a moment, then opened, staring at her in sarcastic intolerance, then closing again, his head rocking back before he let out a loud groan and pushed himself onto his knees, then back up onto shaky legs.

Eve clapped him on the shoulder happily, nearly knocking him over again, and then let him rest a moment standing before they took another step, another, climbing the steep hill step over bedraggled step. Behind them the swamp cried out in agony, beseeching them to come back to her warm muds, her loving insects, I could keep you warm and comfortable, sink into my muds and let me hold you… But they didn't listen, they couldn't hear, so deafened were they by the sounds of their own gasping and panting as they reached the top of the hill, each of then dropping their packs, Danny sitting on his in relief, resting his head in his hands.

"I think we should stop for the night," he groaned. But his words were lost on their target, for Eve was silent. Waiting a moment, Danny looked up, worried a moment as his eyes fell on Eve, her face glazed over and her eyes wide, staring sharply at the scene below them. In her hazel eyes were reflected lights of winking colour, and though the smell of smoke was strong here, stronger were the sounds of laughter and whooping, hollering and the shouts of children.

Danny followed the trail of her gaze, and nearly fell off of his pack and back down to the devious arms of the swamp behind them. The hillside sloping down before them leveled out to a plateau above the murk of the swamp, and it was from here that the deep lights and bright blues that shone in Eve's eyes arose.

The plateau spread out for miles, and was covered in tents of all shapes and sizes, some as large as small mansions, others small enough to hardly seem to be more than a dyed burlap door. They did not seem organized in any sort of manner, and between them burned countless massive bonfires, around which several odd people were gathered. Between the tents small children played with toys that seemed to bounce light on their hands, and in the sky fireworks cracked scarlet, raining down ashes on the hollering people gathered around the fires.

The tents nearest to Danny and Eve were of a deep scarlet colour, shimmering and changing to be all sorts of deep hues of reds and golds. Scattered throughout were similar tents, light blue or white, the flags hoisted above them sporting a fleur-de-lis. However, as Danny examined the queer scene, he found that the shouting people around the fires were thrusting more of the light blue flags into the fires. In the distance, lights seemed to illuminate a giant stadium, the epicenter of the firework display, but even this high above the marsh the fog still lingered, and neither Danny nor Eve couldn't make it out very clearly. From somewhere in the distance a voice boomed, loud and deep, but it was too far off to be understood.

"Where are we?" Danny wondered out loud, hardly able to tear his eyes form the scene to look at an entranced Eve. She kept looking straight forward, her eyes half-shut, as if she were dreaming.

"I don't know," she muttered softly, more red fireworks bursting in her eyes. High above the tents the bright red, flaming lettering of the words _Bulgaria Wins_ blew to the winds. She turned to Danny, a slow smile inching across her lips. "Do you want to find out?"

Danny thought a moment, taking in the scene again, and turning around again to face the cold, dead quiet of the decaying marshes behind them. "Better here than back there," he said, shivering, and stood up, pulling his pack on his back and helping Eve to do the same. "After you," he offered, smiling as charmingly as he could muster. Eve rocked back on her hip, pursing her lips out.

"Sure, now you're a gentleman."

"Hey, better you than me," Danny said, laughing as he skipped down the steep slope of the hill. Eve was already on the plateau, and turned to wait for him.

"Gee, thanks," she said, sarcasm dripping like honey from her tongue. By now they were wandering through the outskirts of the tents, and Danny tugged at her sleeve as to point out the wonderment around them.

Two small children sat on the grass to their right, playing with something, light glinting off the object as they passed it secretly to one another. "It's a Remembrall," the little boy whispered to his companion as Danny and Eve passed them. As they walked passed, the little boy gasped and moved to hide the Remembrall- whatever that was- form sight, concealing beneath what seemed to be calf-length black robes. Danny watched them a moment, blinking and shaking his head in confusion.

Eve, however, was looking straight forward, her eyes sparkling despite her mud-encrusted clothes and face. She peered in the one of the tents, the burlap door pulled open, and gasped, her eyes widening, as her eyes found a full-size bedroom, complete with three large beds, a kitchen and a chandelier. She blinked, and looked at the tent itself; the tent was no larger than a camping tent, yet the inside was as large as small house. She swallowed and pulled Danny over to her. He looked inside, and his eyes widened in shock as he beheld the impossibility of the tent.

"Excuse me," a woman said behind them, startling Eve to where she almost fell. Danny turned to face her, looking her over in curious confusion. She was short, and her grey hair frizzed out in all directions, thin and wiry, pushed down only by a ratty, crooked witch's hat. Her nose was sharp and bent, and she wore a long black robe, a red badge on her breast changing from reading _#1!_ to _Bulgaria!_. She spoke in a decidedly British accent. "Why are you looking in our tent?"

"This is your tent?" Eve asked, pushing Danny aside. He huffed, but stood aside while Eve talked with the woman.

"Why, yes. We couldn't get here quite fast enough for the Cup, but Bulgaria won! Isn't that wonderful news?" the woman said, chuckling. "My family and I are celebrating over there." She flapped a hand loosely behind her, gesturing to a nearby bonfire where more oddly-dressed people sat around, whooping and drinking out of dark bottles.

"Well, we're very sorry for looking in your tent," Danny quickly said. "We'll just be moving along."

"No, no, nonsense!" She looked a moment over Eve's dirty clothes and the pair's overall bedraggled appearance. "You're all dirty! Did your portkey drop you off in the marshes or something?" Danny and Eve looked at each other questioningly, but before they could give any sort of answer, the woman reached into the folds of her robe and pulled out what looked to be an intricately carved wand. She tapped Eve's arm with it delicately, muttering a word simply and daintily- "Tergeo"- and in an instant the mud was gone from her body completely, leaving her clothes and face as clean as if she had just come from a hot shower. Eve yelped, and staggered back to Danny, who clutched her arm in tentative fear.

"I- I- I- think we'll just be moving along, then," Danny stuttered, hurriedly leading a stunned Eve away from the curious woman, who shrugged and went back to her bonfire. The two kept their heads down, walking as fast as they could muster through the ever-thickening crowds of people, most all of them wearing robes similar to those worn by the old woman and the little boy. The drunken shouts and laughs of the people as they drank and laughed around their bonfires, music swirling around them out of nowhere, brightly coloured light shooting out of wands much like that carried by the old woman, was almost too much to bear.

The sounds and the lights were impossible, dizzying, the lights swirling in Eve's vision as she looked over to Danny, who had his eyes shut. She led him on through the crowd, avoiding with a wide margin any people, inching around the tents and their curious insides. Just when the crowd was so thick that it was almost impossible to walk through, Danny and Eve burst from the mass of tents and people in a sudden burst, tripping and falling to the grassy ground. From here, they could see the dark silhouettes of the trees that made up the dense forest that now stood behind them, framing the tents and covering the plateau.

"What is this place?" Eve whispered, as they realized that they were lying on what seemed to be a road splitting the tents into two halves. On their right stood endless rows of red tints, few light blue ones mixed in with them. On their left stood the opposite, the expanse shimmering with the light blue hues of the tents; on this side the people were quiet and sulking, some crying around their fires, a heavy contrast to those on the right. Her question was nearly cut short by the loud crack of a nearby firework as it shot out of the red tents to explode in the night sky.

"I have no idea," Danny whispered back, still shaken. A moment later a cheering arose, and people dressed long robes of all colours rushed to the side of the road and cheered. Even those in the blue tents clapped grudgingly, nodding and whispering amongst themselves. On the right side, the noise of cheering and applause was deafening. The sound of the oncoming parade could be heard through the ground, and Danny lifted his head to find Eve already standing to the side of the road, craning her neck to see what was coming down the road.

A cloud of smoke arose from the people's feet as they approached, wearing robes of deep scarlets that shimmered like fire in the low light. A tall, hulking man, his brow creasing in what seemed like a perpetual glare, led the parade; he was in turn followed by two other, leaner but still hulking men, and behind them came three more, two women, their hair shaved close to their heads and the same scowl on their faces, walking on either side of another man. A seventh man, of average height, held up the back of the train. He was shorter, still standing face-to-face with Danny, and yet he was the sort you didn't just approach. He seemed to give off an aura of celebrity, yet there was something dark in his step as he stormed past. All seven were silent, and all seven carried sleek, thick broomsticks. Every time the handles of these broomsticks hit the ground, they sent a small shower of red sparks, and the ground thudded as if being walked on by giants with every impact.

The first six strode by before Eve or Danny could get a good look at them; however, before passing them, the seventh paused and turned a moment, surveying the crowds under a heavy brow. His face remained expressionless as his eyes passed over Danny and Eve, his eye stopping coldly as he saw them. He looked Danny square in the eye, Danny's verdigris eyes following the handsome, if sinister, man's unshaven cheek up to the dark wells that were his eyes. He shivered in the face of the coldness that met him there, coldness masked by a veil of heat and raw muscular power. But the moment of attraction and fear was fleeting, for soon, he, too, followed the other six down the road. As he retreated, and as Eve pointed out to Danny, who was still stunned, words shimmered on his back. Against the deep scarlet of his robes, a name shimmered: _Viktor Krum_. In a moment, the seven were lost in the forest.

Not a moment passed before a thunderous sound was heard again as insults ripped from the throats of the people on the right side of the road. On the left, the people sulked, some sobbing and sinking to the ground in their despair. From down the road came seven more people in the same arrangement as before, now with five women and two men, all of their frames lighter, more agile than those of those who had gone before. They wore tattered, muddy and torn light blue robes, fleur-de-lis's adorning their shoulders, and their shoulders were hunched in defeat as they trudged by, not looking any one of the people in the crowd in the eye, hardly paying any attention at all to the boo's and insults being thrown at them.

Soon, they, too, fled into the forest, following the strange people who had gone before them. Eve tugged at Danny's shirtsleeve in excitement; he met her eyes to find them shining with glee. "Let's follow them!" she whispered excitedly, her hazel eyes begging him to say yes. He looked around tentatively at the already-dispersing crowds.

"I don't know," he said apprehensively. "No one else seems to be-"

"Have you seen the other people here?" She looked at him plainly, and he took a deep breath, sighing, his breath misting in the cooling night air. She seemed to take that as a yes, grabbing his wrist in her sturdy grip and pulling him alongside her as she raced off down the grassy road and into the forest ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

The trees grew thick and dense, their dark flesh glistening with the dew of the morning that never dried. No light dappled the ground, and Eve doubted that it would even in the sun as she raced through the wood, Danny in tow behind her. They were hardly twenty steps in when the sounds of the celebrations behind them were lost to the blackness and the eerie silence of the forest. The only sounds now were those of the humming of the crickets and the occasional hoots of the sleepy owls; occasionally Danny heard a foot stepping behind them, crunching on the leaves and twigs his own foot had just crunched, and hurried his pace to stay behind Eve.

Every once in a while, Eve would spot out of the corner of her eye a small dot of bright flame between the trees; she would blink and it would be gone, as if it were just a figment of her imagination. In the night the shadows of the forest seem to move, and the wind whistling through the high boughs of trees, which shook like arms to its touch, echoed like distant flutes through the forest. In the rustling of the branches they would hear sounds like conversations, muted and long forgotten, whispering about them as they walked, now slower, more tentatively, through the dense wood.

Danny was now clutching Eve's arm in terror as the shadows seemed to move in closer, closer, closer, until he could feel their breath on his neck, and then fled away, only to draw nearer again as they moved deeper into the forest. "I don't think we should be here," he whispered, terrified, into Eve's ear.

"I agree- let's turn back," she whispered back, clutching him as he clutched her. They swiveled around in the woods, their feet crunching the leaves louder than ever, the branches like hands reaching out to grab them and hold them there until their breath passed, misting, from their bodies and into the forest, trapping them there forever under the skeletal boughs. "But…" she faltered, "which way did we come from?" Danny had no answer for her, and they stood there a moment, their breaths trapped in their throats, neither of them making a sound.

All of a sudden, bursting from the thick, syrupy darkness of the trees and the silence came a short giggle, echoing in their ears. Danny and Eve swiveled around furiously, back-to-back, fear making their hands clasp one anothers' and their lips tremble. Suddenly, a burst of smoky wind thrust them apart, and both were thrown to the ground, Eve crying out in fear and surprise, Danny gritting his teeth and a rock sank its teeth into his knee.

A small figure, one legged, bouncing excitedly and seeming to be made of nothing but smoke, paused before them, its giggle still faint in their ears as each turned to face it. Eve stood slowly, and Danny limped over to her, both keeping their gaze on the ethereal creature. An orange light bathed their faces with a comforting, secure light from the lantern the creature held in its hands, and as it waved it back and forth, their eyes followed it and its warmth.

And, just as it was there, the creature was gone, hopping on its leg into the darkness again, moving with such incredible speed that only the light of its lantern could be seen through the bends of the trees in the forest. Danny looked to Eve frightfully, and found her looking back; they decided without words to follow the thing, and ran off after it and the comfort and safety of its light, tripping over rocks and roots as they dashed through the forest. The darkness of the trees and their eyes rushed by in a blur as frigid air stung their faces as they ran, dashing between boulders and trees, which seemed to grow thicker with every few yards.

Up ahead, the lantern could barely be spotted turning behind a tree or ducking beneath a fallen moss-ridden log; sometimes the creature seemed to know that it was following them, and turned sharply, zigzagging violently through the claws of the trees despite their hot pursuit. The trees were so dense, now, that they could hardly take two steps in the same direction; the light glimmered in the distance, and although the trees raked and tore at them, both Eve and Danny ran with the same speed that they had when they first set off, keeping pace with one another.

In the next instant, two things happened. One was that the light glimmered one final time, as if in regret and goodbye, I'll see you again sometime soon, don't forget to say helot o your family for me, before dodging off unseen into the night. The other was that Eve and Danny simultaneously tripped over the same thick root, both crashing to the ground with a hefty "oof". Danny yelped in pain as his knee was grazed again, and Eve moaned, clutching her stomach and turning over.

It took both of them a moment before they turned over to realize that they had stumbled upon a small clearing, a small area of soft grass, mossy boulders firmly rooted in the center. Eve opened her mouth to speak, asking if Danny was alright; he hushed her, placing his hand over her mouth and pointing to the center of the clearing. Standing in front of one of the smaller boulders, blocking most of it from view, was the last woman wearing the light blue robes, her blonde hair still tied back in a sleek ponytail, looking no different than she had when she entered the forest. She glanced to her right, then her left, and reached out to the boulder; in an instant, she was gone, vanished, as if she had never been there. Danny blinked in confusion, and slowly pried his fingers off of a struggling Eve's mouth.

"Who was that?" she asked in amazement, spitting out the taste of Danny's hand into the grass.

"How should I know?" he snapped back, frustrated, tired and sore.

"Do you want to check it out?"

"I'd really rather not do anything involving-" But she was already gone, heaving herself up with a sturdy push and walking over to the boulders on shaky legs. "Eve!" Danny cried out, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Well, hey, would you rather be stuck over there by the forest or over here with me?" she called back from behind the rocks. He shivered, and scrambled away from the forest, which stood like some sort of stone-silent and dark sentinel. He limped over to the boulders, throwing his pack alongside Eve's; he hadn't noticed that they were both still carrying them, and felt a great relief as the weight was lifted of his shoulders. He found Eve sitting on one of the rocks, lying out on the moss, looking up at the now-clear skies with a sort of transfixed stare.

"Are you alright?" he asked hesitantly. She started, and looked to him as if brought out of a trance.

"Yeah," she said sheepishly, winking, "I'm just tired, is all." She scooted over, patting the boulder, inviting him to sit beside her. He did, lying down so that her head rolled onto his shoulder, and they looked up at the sky together. The clouds had succumbed to the breath of the wind, leaving in their wake an ocean of stars. Here, so far away from any civilization, the cloudy blue of the galaxy lay behind the stars like a blanket, and wrapped in its folds was nestled a sliver of a moon, so thin it looked as if it were hardly there at all. Red and ocher planets rested lazily between the stars, shining with a queer light of their own, blinking at Danny and Eve as they blinked back, their mouths slightly open with the sense of awe that filled their hearts. "Is that Mars?" Eve asked, pointing to a particularly bright red planet.

"Yeah," Danny answered. "I think so. It's bright tonight."

"Yeah." They lay there a moment longer in comfortable silence, their breaths misting and frigid in the night air. "You know, in the movies, this is when the two main character realize that they're in love."

"You mean, when they're stranded in the woods after stumbling across a freak show and following people who can disappear and a moving light?" They laughed a moment, and realized it hurt to do so, returned back to their moment of comfortable silence.

After that moment Danny let his head fall to the side, letting them close as exhaustion wrapped his body in its cruel web. But, just as they began to close, and his vision began to blur, he spotted the glint of something in the tender starlight, something half-buried and forgotten in the grass.

"Do you see that?" he asked Eve, gesturing to the object. She nodded furiously, and looked at him, both of them sitting up in alert. After their night, they were nervous to anything that seemed out of the ordinary. "I think we should go check it out. You know- make sure it's not dangerous." Eve nodded slowly, and both of them slid off the boulder and crept over to the object, reflecting the starlight with an almost blue glow in the grass.

"Is that a hanger?" Eve asked, almost laughing at their needless caution. It was, indeed; the hanger was bent and rusted over in some parts, the light glinting off of it with a taunting wink.

"Yes, it is," Danny responded, his voice heavy with suspicion, "but what's it doing in the middle of the woods?" Even looked at him, and he knelt by it, putting his hand out slowly, reaching for it carefully, as if it might rear up and bite him like a snake.

"Danny," Eve said, stopping him. "Remember the apple." He thought a moment, his hand retracting a few inches as he swallowed heavily. Eve found her hand out as well, moving as if to grab the thing herself, or else to stop Danny's hand from inching any closer to it. Their eyes were locked in a state of battle, Eve's in nervous warning and his in nervous curiosity.

"What if it hurts us?" Eve raised an eyebrow.

"It's a hanger," she responded, looking at him plainly. He shrugged.

"And we're stranded in the middle of the woods after stumbling upon a freak show and following a moving light," he replied promptly, an edge in his voice. She lowered her eyes, but not so much that she couldn't see his hand; as it moved towards the hanger, so did hers, and they both touched it in the same instant.

As their fingers brushed the rough metal, the wind seemed to stop blowing, the crickets stopped chirping, the world stopped rotating. For a half of a moment all that there was in the world was Eve's breathing, Danny's breathing, and their eyes as they locked onto one anothers' in fear. It felt like a hand reaching into their chest and picking them up; in a moment they were lifted in to the air, and then the world was spinning again, too fast, nothing but a blur beneath their feet as they rose higher and higher, above the forest, until all they could see was a dense grey.

They both grasped desperately onto the hanger as the began to spin, not knowing anymore what was up and down, their heads reeling from the force of being battered around by a ferocious wind, both of them having vertigo, not knowing where was up or down, just flying or falling, neither knew which. They felt like they were spinning, but all around them everything was a vortex of grey, and then they felt like they were falling. A scream burst from Eve's lips, and Danny let loose a ripped cry as he shut his eyes, feeling bile rising in his throat as they spun faster and faster, being battered and hammered at harder and harder, until in a sudden moment, it all stopped, and the world had colour again, and Danny and Eve collapsed onto the floor, grasping their stomachs in pain, Danny rolling over and retching, Eve weakly crying out before doing the same.

The hanger clattered against the floor with a loud clang, and Danny groaned and fell to the now, somehow, incredibly hard floor, starting in the flashing pain of it, and began drifting in and out of consciousness. It was a long while before he was brought to by Eve weakly pulling at his arm.

"Danny," she coughed. He groaned, his eyes firmly shut. "Danny," she said again, this time more forcefully. He groaned again, turning over on the cold floor to face her. "Danny, wake up."

"What?" he groaned, wincing a the pain his leg and throbbing head. He opened his eyes to find her face in his, beaming, seeming to be fully recovered. Eve stood up, grunting, and pulled his hand, forcing him to his feet. He cried out in pain, and she said her hurried sorry's while he got oriented. She knew that for him, the world was still spinning; he was never even good on roller coasters, far less whatever that was.

The pair now stood in the center of a great hall, the floors and walls made of cold, grey stone, silent stone, lifeless and dead. Nothing stirred, not even the air, though here it seemed more frigid than ever, Danny collapsing into Eve for either support or warmth. She rubbed his shoulders comfortingly while her eye studied the graceful curves in the sunken architecture, the columns swirling gracefully into the high ceiling, four gargoyles, some beautiful women, others hideous demons, adorning every pillar. There were rugs on the walls, once, but they now hung ratty and frayed, lost to time and wear. The room was filled with long tables, many of them, row after row, low benches as to sit on beneath them. Once they may have been beautiful, the wood dark and polished, but now a thick layer of dust had settled over the, and they lay in disarray around the vast room.

The only light was the soft light of the night that seemed to fill the room with a cold luminescence, streaming in from the many great stained glass windows, some broken, others dirty. On one end of the hall was a great window depicting a scene of what seemed to be two men in robes with wands, one young and thin, with glasses and a thin scar on his forehead, the other tall and pale and gaunt, sparks flying from the ends of them at one another while the skies behind them roiled in fury. Above Danny and Eve the ceiling was like a cathedral, high and ornate, intricate carvings and designs spread over the vast space, several broken and dilapidated chandeliers hanging down over their heads.

Danny moved suddenly, and Eve backed up in disgust as he retched again, collapsing onto his bruised and bloodied knees again and the bile spurted from his mouth. He coughed, and stood again, shakily, wiping his mouth on his sleeve in disgust. "What happened?" he asked, his voice thin and wavering.

"You found a portkey," a voice from behind them said aloud. Eve swiveled around to face the speaker. He was tall, and thin, his dark, nearly black hair grown out neatly to his shoulders, framing his thin, but young and handsome, face. A plaid cloak was tossed over his shoulders, and he wore on his fingers several shining rings. "I am Howl; welcome to Pronghorn."

Eve turned to face the man, her arms crossed firmly over her chest in suspicion as Danny stood shakily behind her. "What, may I ask, is a portkey, Mr. Howl?" she asked, accusation in her tone. Howl attempted a disarming smile but Eve's gaze did not even flicker. He laughed a little halfheartedly.

"A portkey, my dear Eve, is an object which, when you touch it, transports you to another place instantly, no matter that distance." Eve's face, covered with an uncommon frown, grew even graver and her voice took on an unusually aggressive tone.

"How do you know my name?" she asked, one arm stretching out protectively in front of Danny. Howl laughed.

"Oh, I have been expecting you two for quite some time. Though I must admit you surprised me. I had anticipated you would wait at least until receiving your acceptance letters. Still, enthusiasm is something we encourage in our students." Reaching deeply into his pockets, more deeply that should have been physically possible, Howl pulled out two pristine envelopes, both made out of carefully folded parchment. He stepped forward, intending to hand the letters to the pair, but Eve, still fully in mother-bear mode, growled at him, warning him to stay away from her and her wobbly friend. "They're just letters." he assured her. "They won't hurt you." Again he moved closer and Eve snatched them from his outstretched hand. Watching him warily from the corner of her eye Eve broke the seal and opened the letter, her eyes falling to the flowing, dark script. The letter read thus:

_Miss Eve Breckinridge,_

_I am most pleased to inform you that you have been selected to attend Pronghorn PronghornPFinishing School for Young Witches and Wizards of Great Potential and Magical Ability. At this exalted institution you will polish your bubbling talent into a functional force and will develop the skills necessary to survive in the cutthroat world that the wizarding community is today. Your acceptance is, as per usual, mandatory and we look forward to your arrival on school grounds, and the arrival of your tuition fees, listed on the back of this letter._

_Sincerely and dearly yours,_

_Howl, Dean_

_Head of the Society for Magic of Questionable Morals , Member of the Order of the Old Book, Author of the best selling auto-biography Bewitchingly Beautiful, Charmingly Chiseled, Keeper of Elmirici's Flame and Winner of the Sorcerer Extraordinaire Lifetime Achievement award thirty-two years running._

Eve had to squint to read the fine print on the bottom of the page. "_Neither Howl nor any of the Professors or the Institution itself are liable for any harm that may befall the recipient of this letter during the course of their time at the school. Any issues with such terms should be taken up before the student steps onto school grounds by contacting L. R. Prewitt, wizard attorney and dentist_." She read aloud. Turning to Howl incredulously, her finger clenched around the letter, tearing the edges. "What the hell is all this then?" she asked bewildered. Howl smiled.

"Yes, young witches and wizards are always so shocked to find out they have been accepted to such a prestigious magical university." Danny paled visibly.

"You must be crazy! We can't do magic!" It was Howl's turn to look suspicious.

"Nonsense! If you were Muggles you couldn't have gotten into the World Cup, let alone on the school grounds. I charmed them myself!" he sniffed, insulted.

"What are Muggles?" asked Eve, supremely confused and desiring nothing more than to run away from this crazy man. Howl's face began to slacken with the realization that neither she nor Danny had any idea what he was talking about or really what was going on in general. He sighed, muttering to himself.

"I always knew it would be troublesome to bring Americans into the mix. Damn those new 'equal magical opportunity' laws the Grand Council passed." Turning to the pair he grumbled. "Have a seat." Chairs appeared where there had been none and Danny and Eve toppled into their very own plush, gilded armchair. "This is going to take a long time to explain."

"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Danny cried out weakly, collapsing into his chair in relief, sinking into the plush with a satisfied sigh. Eve snapped a sharp glare at him; he looked away guiltily, and both of them turned their attentions to Howl, who seemed to be looking over them with a sort of disgusted curiosity.

"You know, the students from Hogwarts never give me trouble like this," he muttered. "Arriving in the middle of a term like this, and at this time of night…" he trailed off a moment, and then seemed to remember that they were there, and cleared his voice. From inside his cloak he pulled a long, thin wand, which he waved over Eve and Danny's heads; from the tip of it burst sparks and confetti, and a loud whooping noise echoed through the vast hall. "Congratulations," he said halfheartedly. "You're wizards.

"Well, a wizard and a witch," he added after a moment.

"What do you mean, wizard?" Danny said, leaning forward in sudden intrigue.

"And a witch?" Eve added, leaning forward also. Danny looked at her, rolling his eyes at her blatant feminism; she shrugged, and turned back to Howl, who had stood up and was looking down at them with a flashing eye. His robes swirled around him as if he were standing in the wind, and the rings on his fingers twitched as he began to speak.

"As you can see," he said, prodding at their acceptance letters with his wand, "you have been accepted into the grandest, most renowned and private magic university in the world. Usually, only the most exquisite students from the three primary wizarding institutions- Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang- are accepted here. To have two Muggle-born and completely inexperienced students here is nearly unheard of. In fact, I'm not sure at all why you were even considered for admission." Howl paused a moment, stroking his clean-shaven cheek and thinking a moment.

"Hmm. Yes. Anyway. Here at this school it is our duty to instruct students in the more experienced paths of magic and set them on a course for a much greater destiny. You see," he said plaintively, "most wizards who graduate school simply end up working for the Ministry of Magic, or freelance wizards who work in the Muggle world. Or else, they don't work at all. Magic seems to provide everything we need."

"But what's a Muggle?" Eve asked again. Before the question had even escaped her lips Danny burst out eagerly.

"What's the Ministry of Magic?" Danny asked excitedly.

"What's the Mini-?" Howl shouted, before breathing a moment and remembering who he was talking to. "The Ministry is sort of like the wizarding government. It's been through a rough spot lately, but seems to be coming out of it with the newest Minister. They have records of every wizard on the record, all of the history, and they help run the bank."

"Bank?"

"Gringotts. It's in Diagon Alley- but I guess you'll see that soon enough," he winked at Danny, who, despite his confusion at the man standing before them, reddened. "And, like I was saying-"

"And what in hell is a Muggle?" Eve cried, cutting him short.

"A Muggle is someone of non-wizard blood. Their world and ours are kept completely separate- can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if they discovered us? No, no, must be kept a secret. That's a lot of what the Ministry does, too.

"Anyway, the two of you present a problem. Usually, students who come here have gone through several years of intensive magical training, and are already full, legal wizards. You, on the other hand, are both eighteen, so, in our world, legal, and yet know nothing about the wizarding world," Howl said at length. "You have been enrolled here, who knows why, and, as is stated on the letters, acceptance is mandatory. It is the middle of the term, so we'll have quite a bit to work out- housing and whatnot- as well as classes."

"But what does it mean? I mean- that we can do magic?" Danny asked.

"It means that whenever you say a spell, something will happen. For example," Howl said, flourishing his wand again and pointing it at Danny, "_Episky_." A small white light dashed out of the tip of the wand at raced to Danny's knee; in an instant, the gash there was healed. Danny leapt back in shock at the sight of the unbroken flesh. "It means that, once you learn, you can do anything you want to- the world is yours, Daniel." Howl had a dark look in his eye as he whispered the words. And Danny stood transfixed until Eve spoke, breaking the smoky darkness that swirled in Howl's suddenly vicious gaze.

"How does it all work?" Eve asked, scoffing, still, somehow, in adamant disbelief. "Magic, I mean."

"Yes, girl, I know what you meant," Howl snapped, before suddenly turning back into a charming gentleman, his tone changing from sharp to soft in an instant. "And it is really very simple. The first thing we'll have to do is go and get you your wands; that'll take us to Diagon Alley. I'll explain everything once we get there."

"How are we getting there?" Danny asked tentatively. "Not another one of those portkey things?" He breathed a sigh of relief as Howl shook his head. The man extended his ahnd, inviting Danny and Eve to grasp it. They did, and found it surprisingly soft to the touch.

"No, no- we'll Apparate." Before Danny could ask what that was, a white light like smoke swirled up around his feet, and around Eve and Howl's, as well; suddenly he felt as if the world was spinning around him again, and instantly his forgotten feeling of nausea came rushing back. Eve heard Howl humming as she felt a pull on her body, and in an instant there was a flash, and they felt their bodies being warped and twisted into knots as the light grew brighter and brighter, blindingly bright.

And then, with a crack like thunder, they were standing in the middle of a cobblestone road, all feelings of nausea gone, their bodies twisting out of their knots as Howl led them by their hands in a confident stride. "Welcome," he said to Eve, ignoring Danny, who was already staring around him, his mouth open wide, "to Diagon Alley." He gestured wide around him, and stepped to the side as to grant her a full view of their new surroundings.

The road was wide, and the bricks laying it were designed in a swirling pattern that led the eye down the street to a massive white marble building. From the roof of this building gargoyles watched the passersby as they approached, growling and crawling along the rooftop. "Gringotts," Howl explained. "You could buy the world with all of the money kept there. It's also one of the safest places in the world; it would take a damn fool to try and break in, of course, but things've happened." All around them, people bustled, all of them as queerly dressed as the people at the World Cup. Most of them walked with a skip in their steps- "happy times," Howl explained- and called out greetings to one another on the street. Children with eager, shining eyes gathered ins tore windows and gawked with hungry hands at the wonders in the storefront windows that lined the alley.

Danny and Eve swiveled, trying to take in all of the sights and the sounds at once. Eve's eye were just as bright and shining at Danny's as she beheld the bright flashes of magical instruments the likes of which she had never seen. In windows, barrels and jars were labeled all sorts of things, like _Eel Hearts _and _Bat Spleen_, and stacks of books were piled carefully beneath odd telescopes and globes of strange planets. Danny read all of the signs of the shops as they passed in wonder, while Howl waited for them patiently. Here was Eeylop's Owl Emporium; screeches and racket could be heard from inside of the open door. There was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions; a child, no more than eleven, stood in the window, arms out to his sides, a prudish old woman poking at him and measuring him while he squirmed. They passed by the entrance to Gringotts; the great, heavy doors were propped open wide, people pushing in and out of them and avoiding the dragon statues outside of the entrance, which growled at anyone who got too close.

"Ah," Howl said finally, stopping in front of a dilapidated old shop tucked away behind Gringotts, "here we are. Ollivander's." The sign in the window was shabby, and read _Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C._ In the window was a shabby display, a faded purple cushion laden with dust propping up a single, intricately carved wand. "The best of the best in wand-making," Howl commented, ushering Danny and Eve in the door. "This is our first stop. We need to get you two wands."

The shop, inside, was dusty and dilapidated, just as its façade was. There was a small waiting space, two broken chairs and a splintered coffee table the only decoration in front of the small counter. Behind the counter stretched endless rows of ceiling-high shelving, all of it filled with countless long, thin black boxes. A man stood behind the counter, whittling furiously at a small branch; he looked up with half-moon eyes at the visitors as they entered, and leapt from behind the counter, surprisingly nimble for a man of advanced age, bowing deeply to Howl.

"Howl!" he cried. "Willow, 11-and-a-half inches, a core of veela hair, good for charming, I think." Howl smiled a little, a nodded, producing his wand so that the man could examine it. "You've kept her in good shape; that's good. She's one of the few wands of veela hair I've ever sold. They tend to be untrustworthy, you know," he said, winking at Eve and Danny.

"I've got two new students to the university here," Howl said, placing a hand on their shoulders and pushing them forward. "Muggle-born, never even went to Hogwarts. American." The old man's eyes lit up in sparkling delight as he came up to shake both of their hands furiously.

"I'm Ollivander, good to meet you both, oh, so very, very good!" he said as he shook their hands, grasping them firmly with both hands and looking them squarely in the eyes. "Muggle-borns, eh. Never even had a wand." He looked over them a moment. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, you know. Every single wand. And, as you can tell," he gestured with a knobby hand to the sign, "I've sold quite a few." He chuckled before darting back behind the counter and pulling out a measuring tape. "So then, which one of you will go first, hmm?"

Danny, who had been growing more and more excited with every step down Diagon Alley, cried out in delight and rushed over behind the counter to where Ollivander waited for him. Eve chuckled, and turned to see that Howl was sitting, and joined him. Ollivander bade Danny to hold out his arms; he did, and the old man proceeded to run the tape from the tips of his fingers to his armpit, form his elbow to his fingertips, and from his wrists to his shoulders. He then measured across his shoulders, and the length of his torso, as well as his height.

"Hmm, yes…" Ollivander muttered to himself as the measuring tape snapped back into its tiny silver cube and he hobbled off, his fingers brushing along the boxes as he disappeared down one of the many aisles of shelves. He returned a moment later, carrying a long, black box. He opened it, and Danny's eyes widened; inside, nestled in a velvet cloth, was a long wand, straight and nondescript. "To get us started," Ollivander explained. "Eight-and-a-half inches, mahogany, pliable. A core of phoenix feather."

"What do I do with it?" Danny asked, dreading the thought of having to perform a spell, since he didn't know any. Ollivander chuckled.

"Why, simply pick it up and tell me if you feel anything. You see, you will not choose your wand. Your wand chooses the wizard." He did, and held the wood delicately. It felt heavy and leaden in his hand, as if it were struggling to get away from him. He shook his head, and placed it back in the box. The wrinkles around Ollivander's mouth grey deeper a moment as he bustled off, disappearing again into the back of the shop. "Perhaps this one," he said a moment later. "Eleven inches, cherry, very springy. Core of unicorn hair, very good for charms."

This wand had a reddish tint to it, and as Danny picked it up, he felt nothing. He took it in his hand, and held it up to his eye, looking at the intricate carvings on the handle and shaft of the wand. "I don't feel anything," he admitted. "It's so beautiful, but…"

"Try flicking it," Ollivander encouraged. Danny hesitated a moment- what if it didn't work, and he wasn't a wizard?- but he raised it slowly, and flicked it at the wall. Sparks erupted from the end of the wand, leaving smoldering marks on the brick. Ollivander cried out and snatched the wand away from him, shuffling off again and leaving Danny dumbfounded, brushing away the ash on the wall and looking at his hands in amazement.

Yew, twelve inches, core of dragon heartstring, stiff, yielded nothing, nor did oak, nine inches, core of unicorn tail hair, rather bendy. The lines of crinkling frustration in Ollivander's voice grew deeper and deeper with every passing wand, and Danny began to feel bad for Eve, who sat alone in the lobby with Howl. He grew more and more impatient and his swishes with the wands became more and more violent as his fingers found beech, ten-and-a-quarter inches, core of phoenix feather, springy.

"I wonder…" Ollivander said, frowning in thought as he disappeared again into the endless rows of wands. He returned several minutes later with a dusty box, looking like it had not been disturbed in years. "I should warn you," he said, before offering the box to Danny, his voice grave "that I did not make this wand. It is one of the few fine wands made by the great wand-maker Gregorovitch, may he rest in peace, passed onto me at his rather untimely death. He did not believe that such a wand should go to rot in his shop." He moved as if to offer it; but before he did, and as Danny reached for it, he quickly grabbed it away again. "I do not know this wand well. I do not know of its power, but it would do you well to be careful."

He opened the box, and slowly began to unfold the ratty velvet cloth wrapped lovingly around the wand. Ollivander whispered its description, as if fearful: "ten-and-a-half inches, hawthorn, a core of dragon heartstring, supple." Ollivander began to talk very hurriedly, very hushed. "It was told to me that this wand has a brother, somewhere, that the dragon who gave its heartstring for this wand gave another as well, and that Gregorovitch sold that one to a young wizard many years ago, just before he retired from wand-making altogether. Maybe making this pair drained all of the energy out of him."

He revealed the wand with a flourish, and Danny's eyes, though they had begun to sink with forgotten exhaustion, opened wide and bright once again. The wand was thick, and tapered; the wood was ashen, as if it was once white but had faded with age. But, however old the wand was, it was still very strong, and Danny slid his fingers around the smooth carved handle, dug out to be a delicate grip from the overall roughness of the wand. It looked as if it had been cut from the tree, and none of the roughness of the bark carved away, save for the bone smooth handle and the taper of the shaft.

The wand was curved at the handle; it may have been over ten inches, but it seemed more like nine as he lifted it out of the box. It was light, for looking so heavy; he balanced it easily between his thumb and forefinger, allowing his index finger to rest over it and feeling a flood of warmth race down his arm. Ollivander leaned forward in anticipation as Danny raised it above his head. The shaft extended straight forward, and Danny closed his eyes at the warmth of the feeling racing throughout his body.

He sighed in delight as the feeling faded, and opened them again to look at the wand, satisfied. Ollivander frowned deeper yet, for a moment, then smiled. "A match!" he exclaimed. "Curious, to be sure, but still. A wand for a wizard!" He looked up at Danny, who replaced his new wand in its box, blowing the dust from it and caressing it lovingly, beaming. "Now then," Ollivander went on to say, ushering Danny behind the counter and back into the lobby again, "that will be seven Galleons."

"I'll take care of that," Howl said from behind Danny, smiling and reaching into his pocket, pulling out seven gold coins and placing them in Ollivander's hand. "Galleons are wizard money, Danny," he explained, pulling out more coins of various colors and sizes. "The gold are Galleons, the silver Sickles, and copper Knuts. There are seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle." He nodded to Ollivander, who bowed again, and then took Danny by the arm and led him back to the lobby. Eve waited on them, and smiled, cocking her head in curiosity at the sight of the long box nestled in Danny's hands. Seeing the grin plastered on his face, her eyes widened and she leapt to her feet.

"Come now, girl. It's your turn," Ollivander called. Eve sulked a moment, sad not to see Danny's wand, but still raced off to the counter, letting the old man measure her while Danny sat with Howl.

"So then. What is yours?" Howl asked in a lighthearted tone. Danny told him everything Ollivander had said, his eyes shining. He handed Howl his wand, who held it in his hands, turning it over, looking at it, examining it with an expert eye. "Hmm. That is curious. Brother wands are very rare indeed. I wonder who yours is. And besides that, the combination in the wand itself is rather odd. It's sturdy, yet pliable- the more bendy the wand, the better for charming and lighter magic; the sturdier, the better for transfiguration and manipulative magic. It seems you've got a good balance of the two. The wood makes me think of innocence, of love and raw, honest emotion, of long life, yet dragon heartstring is typically for wizards who are feral and instinctive." He handed the wand back to Danny handle first. "A curious wand, indeed."


	3. Chapter 3

Eve followed Ollivander back into his shop, slightly reluctant to leave Howl and Danny. She was beginning to like Howl very much, he had a very pleasing voice. "Stand here, will you my dear?" Ollivander asked, whipping a small silver cube from his pocket. The tape measure flew around her body, sizing her arms, chest, height, legs, everything. When he was done the cube disappeared most hurriedly and Eve smiled at him.

"This is very exciting, you know," she said with her usual sunny grin, "for me. And for Danny, I would imagine. To think, only a few hours ago we were wandering around in a swamp. Not that that wasn't completely enjoyable but I do like having company of the human nature rather than flies." Ollivander had been nodding distractedly and then cut her off.

"I prefer to work in quiet if you please, Miss-?"

"Berry, sugar." she replied, allowing a very small amount of southern twang to spice her tone. Ollivander shook his head in amazement, muttering something about blonde Americans, and wandered off down a row of shelves filled to the bursting with long rectangular boxes each of which contained, presumably, a handcrafted wand. Ollivander came hurrying back with a box, which he whisked open unceremoniously, revealing a thick and stubby wand that made Eve make a face. It was rather ugly, most supremely ugly actually, and she found herself praying that it did not choose her.

"Pine, 6 and 3/4 inches, thestral hair core, unyielding." Eve frowned.

"I'm sorry sir, but what exactly is a core?" Ollivander sighed.

"When a wand is made, the essence of a magical creature is placed inside the wand to allow it to channel the magical energy of a wizard." Eve frowned but nodded, wanting to ask so much more but seeing she was clearly annoying the man. She gripped the hilt of the wand, unbelievably unpleasant to touch, and by instinct her wrist snapped into a graceful flick. A chair behind Ollivander was absolutely obliterated, chunks of ash and flakes of paint floating slowly down to the ground after the explosion. Ollivander snatched the wand back from her before she could do more damage. "I am afraid that is definitely not the one for you, Miss Berry."

"Is everything alright?" came Howl's concerned voice from the front, having only heard a loud explosion.

"Naturally, Howl!" came Ollivander's strained reply as he hurriedly returned the wand to its case and trundled off to find another. twelve inches, fifteen, nine-and-half, ten-and-quarter eight-and-two-thirds, eleven-and-three-fifths, seven-and-three-quarters, holly, birch, vine, oak, cherry, mahogany, rosewood, ash, hawthorn, yew, willow, elder, phoenix feather, unicorn hair, phoenix feather, dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, springy, pliable, unyielding, sturdy, Eve tried everything, but nothing seemed to work, always leading something in Ollivander's shop to be hopelessly mangled. The last wand he handed her (Yew, eleven-and-a-half inches, unicorn hair and pliable) even shot sparks backwards, the embers burying themselves deeply into Eve's hand.

Her strangled cry caused Danny and Howl, who had literally been sitting there for at least five hours, to come running. "What happened?" gasped Danny when he saw the angry red wounds and blisters forming on his friend's hand. Howl took out his wand and pointed rather grandly.

"_Episkey"_ Much to Howl's annoyance, the spell had no effect and Eve continued to grit her teeth in agony as Danny rubbed soothing circles on her back. Clearing his throat he pointed again. "_Episkey Universitas_!" Eve screamed as her flesh began to knit back together, slowly and painfully, until her hand was once again whole but still swollen and covered with tiny, silvery scars. "We'll have to put some ice on that later." He commented as Danny helped her to stand.

"Howl, I'm sorry, but there's simply nothing in my shop that will work for her." said Ollivander, coming back to join the group now that the madness was over. Howl frowned.

"Then what are our options, Ollivander?" The older man grimaced.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but you might want to look into Kiddell's wands. They won't last as long, but he might have something. Or, I could make her a custom wand, it will cost more, but wands in which the wizard, or in this case witch, chooses the components tend to be more receptive to that wizard as their master. Of course, there are always exceptions…" he said, his eyes falling to Eve's hand. Howl mused.

"I've never liked Jimmy, fat balding old man he is. And his wands are the lowest quality on the market, or so the daily prophet claims. We'll take a chance, old friend, and have Eve here choose." Ollivander nodded a little sullenly and led them as far back into the shop as the walls would allow. Then he opened a small, rusting door located to their left and stepped through, followed quickly by the others.

Eve gasped. Similar to the concept of the tents being larger on the inside, this room, which Danny had taken for a closet, was enormous. High glass ceilings, over a hundred feet tall at some points, domed their way over, what appeared to be, a greenhouse for trees. Hedge clippers and watering cans floated along and tended to plants as if they had minds of their own and a cloud circled the expansive room dropping a sort of sparkling translucent liquid on the trees that caused their leaves to shimmer. Ollivander led them along a path, carved out by large flat stones cutting into the thick green grass. "Miss Berry." He said summoning her from her dazed amazement. "I am going to tell you the properties of each tree, so be sure to pay attention so you can make the right choice." Eve nodded.

They came to a giant oak tree, larger than either Danny or Eve had ever seen. "Oak represents strength and durability, these tend to be the longest lasting and the least breakable of wands, however they are also the least versatile when it comes to the variety of spells they are able to perform to their full potential. However, oak wood also tends to provide protection to the user, mostly by absorbing the worst effects of a spell used against its master." The four of them continued through the rest of the trees, absorbing the details that Ollivander choked out. When they had finished they were back near the entrance and Howl addressed her.

"Now, Eve, which wood took your fancy?" Eve bit her lip. She had had such bad experiences with each of the woods she had been shown earlier that she was reluctant to pick any of them. She thought hard about their properties and spoke.

"Um, I liked-" suddenly a tree she had not seen before appeared on the edges of her vision. She spun, facing the overlooked arbor. "An orange tree!" she exclaimed in surprise. The tree was maybe twenty-five feet in height and its branches stretched out at least twenty feet to either side of its sturdy trunk. Its foliage was thick and dark green, studded with snowy white flowers and golden globes of fruit larger than Eve or Danny had ever seen.

"Ah, yes. My doctor prescribed more citrus for my diet years ago and I planted it. The fruit's delicious." said Ollivander, waving his wand and causing an orange to float into Eve's arms. Eve gaped; it was about twice the size of her head. Then she looked up, her gaze determined.

"Can orange wood be used in a wand?" Ollivander blinked.

"I've never thought to use it before, I'm not sure anyone has, but yes, I suppose it could. Yes, I'm sure it could. Though as to the properties it might have, it's completely untested. Any wand made from it would be a shot in the dark, so to speak." Howl quickly inserted himself.

"As the one who will be financing said wand, I would appreciate as little risk as possible. Pick another wood, Eve." His voice was a little threatening and Eve shivered but held her ground.

"I spent over five hours trying out wands, Howl, each made from the woods you suggested I choose. Wouldn't it be safer, less of a risk, to try a wood which has yet to reject me?" Howl frowned but eventually saw her logic.

"Do as you must." He grumbled, retreating. Eve turned to Ollivander, the massive orange clutched to her chest.

"Orange wood, if you please, Mr. Ollivander." The man nodded, excitement sparkling in his eyes at the promise of a challenge and he jotted something down hurriedly in a small notebook bound in worn leather he had pulled from his sleeve.

He looked at her, his gaze fierce and expectant. "Now, my dear, for the core." They deposited Danny and Howl out in the lobby and then nearly dragged eve down a heavy wooden hatch that led to the basement. There was a large wooden table with hundreds of odd-looking silver and gold tools resting in racks floating above it, which Eve surmised was his workbench. On the shelves, which covered the walls, were jars of all sizes, most labeled with the common cores like dragon heartstring but some with more exotic things like mandrake root and powdered centaur hooves. Ollivander rushed off around the corner leaving Eve to peruse the shelves and examine the various cores. Suddenly he returned, a small wooden box clutched in his gnarled old hands. "What's that?" asked Eve, curious. Ollivander tapped the box, his eyes shining with exhilaration.

"This, I believe, could very well be your core." He carefully set the box down and opened it. Inside lay what appeared to be butterfly wings, if more angular and ragged of edge. What was unique about them, disregarding the spines present on the thicker parts of the frame, was the color. The wings were iridescent and possessed all colors and yet at the same time no color. Sometimes they were as bright as a prism and others they were the blackest of blacks, absorbing the light around them. As she stared at the wings the world began to spin around her and she felt the insatiable urge to touch the velvety surface of the wings. Ollivander slammed the box closed just in time and Eve shook her head, disoriented.

"You mustn't touch them." He warned. "There's a very wild magic here that would very well destroy a young, untrained witch like yourself. Still, you lasted longer than most wizards your age would have would have. Curious." Eve swayed dizzily.

"What were those things?" she asked, sitting herself down on a bench next to a small skeleton of a creature she didn't recognize.

"Fairy wings." Ollivander said with reverence. "From a queen no less. The Fae store their magic in their wings because their bodies are too tiny to contain it all. Fairy wing wands are very hard to come by; the wings must be harvested from a living fairy in order to keep their power; otherwise the magic vanishes. And a wand with the wings of a queen, well that's unheard of." Eve frowned.

"If they are so rare and valuable, why haven't you made a wand with it yet?" Ollivander smiled, sadly.

"A fairy wing wand is in some ways a pact. Before bonding with it, a wizard is essentially free of the realm of Fae, only sometimes coming into contact with the creatures. When they bond, the wizard is sort of inducted as an honorary Fairy and gain access to a whole new realm of magic."

"That sounds like a good thing." said Eve, still not completely understanding. Ollivander leaned in close, his voice low and intimidating.

"Not everything in that world is friendly, Miss Berry. In fact, the majority of it is dangerous, deadly. If given the opportunity, the creatures will come after you and kill you for your wand. Do you understand?" Eve shivered, slightly disturbed at his tone, but nodded.

"No one has wanted to take the risk." she said, the understanding blooming in her mind. Ollivander once again clutched the box close to him, his eyes sneaking around at the shadows.

"So what will it be, Miss Berry? The fight for you will be difficult, but the wealth of this wand will be well worth it." Eve bit her lip, knowing she should say no but all she could think of was the intoxication she had felt while looking at those wings, the heady sense of being completely out of control and yet in control in the same moment. Mind set, she met Ollivander's expectant gaze.

"I'll do it, I'll have them as my core." Ollivander's face took on a look of almost insane happiness.

"Wonderful." He led her upstairs and back to the lobby where she went to stand by Howl and Danny. "Well," he said speaking to Howl. "We're all set. It will take me about three days to complete the wand. I'll send you an owl when it's done." Howl nodded and Danny asked a very relevant question.

"What will she do in the mean time?" Ollivander reached into his pocket and pulled out another wand, plain-looking and fresh. "Holly, 9 inches. Pliable."

"She'll use this." Eve shook her head, her face defiant and her arms crossed.

"No way am I using holly." Ollivander chuckled.

"Oh, it's not a wand, just a model. There's no core. It's completely harmless. Of course, it also doesn't function very well, but I'd be afraid to let you use any other wand than your destined wand after that display earlier." Eve nodded numbly and took the fancy, polished stick, tucking it away into her sweater. "Until next time, Howl."

Howl smiled and led the new wizards out into the street. "Well, I suppose we'd better go and get you your robes next. Your current attire is hardly appropriate for a top wizard university." Danny and Eve looked down at their torn, dirty clothes, at each other, then around, at the other wizards and witches milling about the streets of Diagon Alley. Some of them wore clothes that were similar to theirs', yet even they seemed out of place here; Danny and Eve kept their heads down as they walked through the Alley, following Howl back up the street to a pristine shop, the sign out front announcing it in curling writing as _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_. In the window, the boy that had been getting measured was gone, and now all that stood were several mannequins, all sporting several different styles of robe, form the plain to the fashion-forward.

"Madam Malkin makes the finest robes of anyone I've ever seen," Howl commented. "Stitched mine herself." He pulled at his own robe, which he wore like a cloak, open over his frilly white shirt and long black pants. He pushed the door open, and ushered the two in; the door closed with a hearty slam and the sound of a bell, pealing out into the impeccably decorated and clean shop. The wallpaper was pink, with a sort of paisley design over it; the coffee table looked brand new and was complete with a vase of fresh-looking flowers.

A prudish older woman came from a back room, hearkening to the sound of the bell; she saw Howl, and her face fell. "Oh, don't tell me you're in here for another repair," she said crossly, immediately pouncing upon the stitching in his cloak. "For all of the times I've had to do special favors on your robes over the years, and not one payment-"

"It's not me, today, Madam Malkin," Howl laughed, pulling at his collar, clearly embarrassed by the display. "These two need robes." Madam Malkin stopped prodding at Howl and backed up to look at Danny and Eve. She looked at them harshly, judgementally through her spectacles and down her long, thin nose. Finally, she sneered.

"Very well," she said curtly. "Measurements?" Howl shook his head.

"They need their first robes," he explained. Madam Malkin sighed more, rolling her eyes, but not asking for any sort of explanation. She snapped, and from behind the counter floated a measuring tape and several pins; she let the pins float next to her head and immediately began measuring Eve, just as Ollivander had, muttering and grunting every now and then in distaste.

"Hmm," she said, stepping back and looking at a wide-eyed Eve. "I expect you'll want your school's normal robes?" she asked Howl, still stroking her chin and examining Eve. Howl nodded, smiling, but his smile was lost on Madam Malkin's pursed lips and scowling demeanor.

"A sweet old broad," he whispered to Danny, who choked back a laugh as the woman glared at Howl. She snapped again, and several large bundles of cloth floated in from the back room, gliding over to Madam Malkin as if awaiting command. She unfolded them neatly and held them up against Eve's body; she nodded, satisfied, pushing the clothes into Eve's hands.

"These will do." She pointed to the back room. "Come on, then; I'll show you how to put them on." Eve followed her back, casting a fearful look at Danny before disappearing behind a black curtain that Madam Malkin pulled violently over the doorway. Danny and Howl stood uncomfortably in the lobby, the silence awkward, as if both were fighting for something to say. From behind the curtain came sounds of grunting and shrieks, and several moments later Eve emerged, wearing the robes and squirming uncomfortably, adjusting herself.

She walked over to the mirror in the lobby and stood, looking at herself, drawing herself up and deflating his a sigh, looking at herself from all angles while Madam Malkin nodded approvingly. The robes were velvety, a deep scarlet or maybe maroon, the dark colour shifting as the light hit it at different angles. The collar cut low, but not low enough to reveal any of Eve's ample breast, and was fringed in was looked like long fur, gold and red and ocher, the warm colours shimmering just like the rest of the robes. Just under her breasts it sported a stylish golden brooch. Beneath the robes she wore a blouse, emerald green in colour, deep and smooth like a calm ocean underneath the heavy fabric of the robe. The robes' cloth was woven with intricate designs sewn into it, the delicate swirling designs repeated in the thin gold belt that synched at Eve's stomach, several loops hanging form it, as if designed to hold something. It looked heavy, and hung down to her ankles; however, it did fit her curves, and in it her face shone, despite his disapproving expression.

Madam Malkin didn't ask for her opinion on her clothes, nor did Howl; neither of them seemed to care as the old woman took Danny by the arm with her manicured nails and took his measurement, shoulders, arms, legs, torso, neck. "The boys are always more difficult," she muttered. "Pants. What wizard in their right mind wears pants?" Danny noticed that she was careful enough not to let Howl hear her, but he was too busy complementing a still-unsure Eve. In a matter of few minutes he, too, was being shoved into the back room. It didn't take long until Eve heard his grunts and groans and was glad that she had her robes.

"Is this really what the students have to wear?" Eve asked Howl hopefully.

"Yes," he said firmly. "Don't worry, you'll get used to them. They get lighter and lighter the more you wear them. They're really rather fetching, much more so than the robes the students at Hogwarts have to wear. So plain, and drab; think of it this way, these accentuate your body more." Eve glared at him viciously; he was infringing on the territory of being creepy. But, just before she said anything about it, Danny came stumbling from out of the back room, nearly getting tangled in the black curtain as he tripped over his robes.

His were very similar to Eve's, in design, anyway, the main portion of his robes a cloak, which draped over his arm and cascaded to the ground. It had the same changing quality of Eve's, the fringe following hers as well, over the top and bottom fringed of the cloak. It was loosely buttoned by his throat by a golden brooch, and covered half of his body; what could be seen underneath was much like Howl's. He wore a dark, emerald green shirt, tight against his well-muscled body, a stitched diamond pattern repeated over the fabric. It hung, cut like an army general's, buttons lining the right side, loosely over his pants, belted with that same gold belt just under his navel. He wore long black pants and knee-high, sturdy boots, and as he met his reflection he strutted back and forth, thinking himself dashing, but rugged, like a proper wizard ought to look.

"That ought to do," Malkin said to Howl as Eve admired Danny, and Danny admired Eve. "That'll be twelve Galleons and three Sickles apiece." Howl groaned, and dug into his pockets, to which Malkin scoffed, haughty. "Do not give me that, Master Howl!" she shrieked. "You have me import the finest Chinese silks, the most expensive manticore manes, the most exquisite-" Howl cut her off by placing a handful of gold and silver coins in her outstretched hand, sighing tiredly, and turning around to wink at Danny and Eve.

"Come along, then," Howl said, whisking out of the shop before they a moment to thank Madam Malkin, "we've much to do." They walked out to the center of the Alley, standing in front of Gringotts' massive doors, which, in the dimming light of the late afternoon, were beginning to close with a deep creak. "Ordinarily, we'd go ahead and buy your books and whatnot here," Howl said, hesitating, "but, I'm afraid, I'm nearly out of money, and Gringotts is closing for the night. We'll come back soon; but I'm afraid for now we'll have to go back to school." He put out his hand, and though Danny and Eve were reluctant to take it, they found their eyes sagging with exhaustion and grabbed hold of it. The last thing they saw before their bodies twisted into knots and they were blown into the white light was Howl winking.

In a flash, accompanied with a crack like thunder, the three stood in the castle again. Danny's knees gave out again, and he fell to the ground, leaping up again in embarrassment as Howl look down at him reproachfully. He waited a moment for Danny to gather his bearings, and as Eve noticed that they were now standing in a long, bleak, grey stone hallway, Howl began walking swiftly away. Danny alerted her, as she was busy examining the plain, cold stone, and they soon fell in stride with him.

"Where are we going?" Eve asked. Howl ignored her for a few steps as they turned a corner.

"This," he began to explain, "is an old castle. A very, very old castle. So old that even with magic it is practically irreparable. Most of the building is gone, and form the outside it looks like a mere skeleton of a building. Which, needless to say, it is. You'll find that the few rooms that are still left intact are empty; we never allow our professors to teach out of them, it's far too dangerous."

"So where are our classes?"

"Just because the rooms are unused does not mean that no one uses them," Howl sighed impatiently. "I suppose you'll just have to wait and see. Anyway, there are still a few rooms which even we do not use, if you'll see why." They had stopped before a rotting, plain wooden door, which Howl, with a flick of his wand, sent flying open with a sharp crack. Danny and Eve stepped nervously inside, and peered around. The room was large, and empty, nothing but three blank stone walls and a stone floor. The fourth wall, which may have once faced the door, was missing completely, and the bricks on the two walls and floor beside it had begun to fall away as well. Eve wrapper her robes closer around her to protect herself from the night's chill that was blowing in on sharp winds from the missing wall. Danny, however, looked out, to the rolling hills, laden heavy with pure white snow that glistened in the starlight.

"Most of the rooms are like this," Howl said sadly, before standing at the head of the room and instructing Eve and Danny to stand across the room from him. "Now then," he began to explain, "you two are a terrible drag on our school's reputation." Eve scoffed at the blatancy of the insult, to which Howl gave her a small, annoyed look. "You haven't the training of any of the major wizarding schools, nor of any of the smaller ones. I'm afraid that in order to survive here, you'll have to learn in a few months what you would ordinarily be taught in several years." Danny and Eve looked to each other fearfully, shivering from the wind, that had begun to blow small flurries of snow into the room.

"Your lesson will begin immediately. Sometimes I will be your teacher; other times, I will bring in a professor to instruct you," Howl continued. "For the moment we are caught at the disadvantage of having no books; for now, I will teach you the most basic spells I know. We will return to Diagon Alley soon to purchase your books. Now then, wands at the ready." Danny and Eve both produced the long black boxes from the inner folds of their robes immediately, both of them itching and eager to begin.

"Toss the boxes to the side; you won't be needing them ever again. Actually," Howl stopped himself, producing his own wand, "point at the boxes with your wands." Both of them did, Eve gripping hers firmly in her hand, Danny letting his run between his thumb and middle finger, his forefinger resting atop it. He still felt a tingle of warmth spread through his fingers as they touched the wood. "Repeat after me: _Wingardium Leviosa_. And as you do, move your wand like this." He swished it, ending the motion with a sharp flick. "It's a levitation spell; as you perform it, you may want to try moving your wand up."

Eve and Danny moved as one, both of their hands swishing and flicking with the same flow that Howl had. Instantly, Danny felt a pull from the tip of his wand to the box; he moved his wand slowly up, and the box lifted off the ground, giving Danny a secret thrill as it rose higher and higher into the air. Eve's box, however, barely moved, rising a couple of inches, if that, before crashing back to the floor. She shot Danny a helpless look, and he nodded to her wand, as if to explain that it was probably because her wand was not her wand at all.

Howl had them repeat the exercise several times until Danny was able to lift his box with hardly any effort at all, and even Eve's box rose several feet from the floor. "Just imagine how good you'll be by the time you get your wand," Danny encouraged, and she smiled halfheartedly, disappointed by her lack of significant progress.

"Now then," Howl told Danny, "Lift it up again, and this time, holding your wand firmly, say, _Reducto_. Eve, you continue to practice the levitation spell." Eve looked over to Danny, disgruntled, but as the word escaped his lips, a bright red light burst from the tip of his wand and raced towards the levitating box. Danny was thrown backwards, hitting the wall, hard, as the box exploded, leaving behind a small amount of dust and ash, which floated down to the floor. Danny groaned, and Eve, though she cried out for her friend, secretly laughed at him while he scrambled to get up.

"What in hell was that?" he cried out to Howl, who didn't try to conceal his laughter.

"A Reductor Curse," he laughed. "A good, basic curse to learn, after the Levitation Charm." Danny brushed his new robes off angrily, muttering to himself.

"Well, now what do I do? My box is gone!" Howl was still chuckling, but leaned over and tapped the pile of ash with his wand, turning it back into a long black box. Danny blinked.

"Now, you practice." Howl watched as Danny and Eve practiced, Eve's rising no higher than before, despite her frustrated efforts, Danny still being blown backwards into the wall with every cast Reductor Curse. Two hours passed by uninterrupted before Howl broke the silence. "Now then," he said to a fuming Eve and a bruised Danny, "I have ere a small list of spells for you two to practice before our next session. That is to say, two days form now, in this same room. Take tomorrow to rest." He handed them each a small scroll of parchment; on it was written a list of spells and how to perform them, starting with _Wingardium Leviosa_ and _Reducto_.

"Pardon," Eve said, panting, "but where exactly do we rest?"

"Oh, yes, your dorms," Howl said, thinking deeply. "I think we have a room available. It won't be quite as, shall we say, private, as the rest of our dormitories, but it's the best I can do for you on such short notice."

"What do you mean, private?" Danny groaned.

"Well, you'll be rooming together," Howl explained, to which Eve and Danny smiled. At this point, they couldn't imagine being apart in this strange, new place. "With another girl. A certain Lorelei Lovegood. She's a queer girl, to be sure; then again, I suppose it runs in the blood." Eve and Danny met each other's eyes nervously.

"How do we get to our dorm?" Danny asked. "I thought the rooms in the castle weren't used."

"They aren't," came the swift reply. "For now, I will take you there; tomorrow, go to the Grand Hall, where the portkey first brought you here. You'll be able to find it, then." Danny nodded, unsure as to what he meant, but agreed, so long as it brought them closer to an opportunity to sleep. Howl extended his hand, and by now Eve and Danny were trained; they took it, first replacing their wands to the loops at their hips. With a bright white flash and a feeling their bodies being twisted into knots, they were gone.


	4. Chapter 4

The room was not large, but certainly not small, and as they Apparated into it a wave of odd odor washed over Eve, Danny, and Howl. Howl wrinkled his nose in disgust, and stepped forward into the room, Danny and Eve trailing close behind them. It smelled like a zoo, as if all sorts of animals nested here, and looked much the same, the heavy scarlet curtains torn, most of the furniture broken or else in shambles. There were three beds, all three of which sported a horribly ripped and destroyed mattress and sheets. The curtains hanging off of the canopies were hanging in shreds, and the pieces littered the floor, along with straw and several bowls full of odd foods and water. The only untouched thing seemed to be a large, ornate fireplace in the back.

On the nearest, broken nightstand was massive and heavy fish tank, cloudy with algae and waste; Eve went over to it in curiosity, tapping the cloudy glass heavily, trying to draw out whatever was inside. "Oh, don't!" a voice cried from the back restroom, and a sharp beam of red light shot out of it and hit Eve on the wrist, making her jump back, rubbing her wrist in pain. "My plimpies are sleeping in there!"

"Who is this girl, some kind of psycho?" Danny whispered nervously to Howl as he tapped one of the bowls with his foot.

"Worse," Howl answered blankly. "A Care of Magical Creatures major." Danny looked at him peculiarly, and then to the girl who was coming out of the restroom, her wand still pointed straight at Eve. She was by far the most peculiar girl Danny or Eve had ever seen, an owl perched on one shoulder, an odd, puffy, brightly coloured bird on the other. Her blonde hair was cut short, but that could barely be seen beneath the giant lion's head she wore atop her head like a headdress. The owl hooted sleepily, and the girl tripped over several trunks and scattered pieces of furniture, stumbling to find it dusty cage, which sat dilapidated in the back corner, never once taking her eye or wand off Eve as the owl hopped into the cage.

On her shoulder, the other bird looked like it was trying to call out, but to no avail; no sound came out of its beak, try and strain as it might. The girl looked to it, surprised, and then back to Eve, who had scuttled to Howl's side. Seeing Howl, the girl dropped her wand. "Oh, Dean!" she cried. "I didn't see you there!" She tried to bow, and the lion head fell off her, crashing to the floor and scaring the song-less bird off her shoulder. "Oh no!" she cried out again, her voice squeaking. "That was my mother's!" She picked it up, scrutinizing it to make sure no damage was done, and replaced it on her head, letting the hair of the mane fall down her back.

"It's quite all right, Lorelei," Howl chuckled. "I've just come to introduce your new roommates, Daniel Mikhailovich and Evelyn Berry. They're new students." Lorelei shrieked in excitement as bounded over to them, apologizing exasperatedly to Eve while hugging Danny. She was nice enough, he mused, looking at her carefully. She had a slight bump on her petite, pointed nose, and her slate blue eyes shone with excitement. She was pretty enough, and as she kissed Eve on the cheek her bright red lipstick left a distinct mark.

"They'll be staying with you this term; be nice," Howl told Lorelei before Disapparating with a loud, distinct pop before either Danny or Eve could protest.

"No one's ever wanted to stay with me before!" Lorelei told Eve, sitting her down on her bed. "That one'll be yours," she told Danny, pointing to the bed nearest the back. "Mine is that one," she added, gesturing to the one across from Eve's.

"I wouldn't say that we wanted to stay with you," Danny said. "We're not really sure what we're doing her at all." Lorelei cocked her head to one side, leaping over to her own bed and bouncing on it before settling down.

"What do you mean?"

"We're new wizards," Eve explained, shooting a glare at Danny. "We've just found out." Lorelei's eyes opened wide, and her face broke out into a smile.

"That's so great! I went to Hogwarts, you know, Ravenclaw house, of course, just like my mum. And you know, she was right." Lorelei leaned in, as if inviting Danny and Eve to do the same, as if about to tell a secret. "There are just as many Crumple-Horned Snorkacks as she said there were." Eve looked over to Danny, confused.

"What a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" he asked tentatively.

"A most extraordinary creature," Lorelei said, still whispering. "It lives in Sweden. Very rare. My mother found one, once. Never documented it, though."

"Right…so, do you know any of these spells?" Eve asked, distinctly to change the subject, giving their new roommate the list of spells Howl had given them. Lorelei walked over and got it; as she walked back, Eve mouthed to Danny behind her back furiously, telling him to notice the odd faces she tended to make and how she never seemed to blink. The frantic mouthing stopped as Lorelei slowly sat down on her bed.

"Oh, yes," she muttered. "I know all of these. These are basic spells. So you two really don't know anything about magic?" she asked, intrigued. Danny shrugged while Eve shook her head.

"We've just come from Diagon Alley," Danny told her. "What sort of wand have you got?" Lorelei held it out to him proudly.

"My grandfather made it for me out of the hair of a Wrackspurt. It goes a little fuzzy sometimes, but that's okay."

"What's a Wrackspurt?"

"Oh a most interesting thing!" Lorelei cried. "It's an invisible creature that floats into your ears and makes your brain go all fuzzy. Don't worry, though; I haven't got any in here."

"You do seem to have a lot in here," Eve said, looking around at the various creatures that were beginning to crawl out from the baseboards and the rafters. "Do all of these things live with you- uh, us?" Lorelei nodded vigorously. She pointed to the owl, now fast asleep, in its cage.

"That's Rudolphus," she said.

"I thought owls slept during the day?" Danny asked. Lorelei just stared, unblinking at him, unnervingly.

"And that's Mordecai, he's a fwooper," she said, pointing to the soundless, colorful bird. "I have to keep him Charmed because their cries can turn you mad," she told Eve, who shivered. She cracked an uncomfortable smile.

"That's…nice," she said to Lorelei, who spent the next hour or so introducing all of animals, more, her plimpies and moke, which she had trouble finding- "it shrinks a lot," she explained- her nifflers and her nogtail, which resembled a pig with long legs and beady, devious eyes. She introduced several rocks as pogrebins, and took a curtain off of aanother birdcage, which was full or four-armed, blue pixies. "Cornish pixies," Lorelei told them. "Very mischievous." After an hour or so of this, Lorelei at back down, looking at her menagerie, frowning. "I have more; maybe they just don't want to play."

"Erm- yes," Danny said to Eve, who was playing with what Lorelei called a occamy; it looked like a winged snake, with beautiful golden and silvery plumage that grew from its seven foot body. Eve jumped as it stood up and walked over on two hidden legs to Lorelei, who rubbed its head absentmindedly. Danny fell back onto his bed, which, despite being ripped up, was rather springy and comfortable.

"Uh, Lorelei?" he said suspiciously. She looked over to him.

"Yes, Daniel?" He quickly corrected her, and she blushed deeply. "I'm sorry. Yes, Danny?" He pointed up the rafter above his head, where a small bundle of green leaves was hanging. "Oh, yes!" she said enthusiastically. "Mistletoe!" Danny looked at her, clearly uncomfortable. She had picked a fruit, shaped similar to a misshapen green balloon, from a small plant, its ceramic pot broken, on her nightstand. "Dirigible plum," she explained sheepishly. "Anyway, that mistletoe is infested with nargles. I'd stay away from it, if I were you."

Danny looked to Eve, but she, too, had fallen onto her bed and was quietly snoring, dreaming of what it would be like to be a witch. Danny smiled fondly, and followed suit, allowing sleep to sweep him away into a world of flying broomsticks and magic wands. Their sleep, no matter how blissful and refreshing, was cut short by the prickle of the golden sunlight through the windows of their dormitory. Eve awoke before Danny, yawned, and turned over to find a niffler sniffing at her curiously. She screamed, which caused Danny to sit up in alarm, but after calming down a moment, both of them looked at each other and laughed as Danny crawled onto Eve's bed.

"Can you believe it?" Eve whispered fiercely. "We're wizards!" Danny nodded vigorously.

"I was scared it was a dream," he admitted nervously. He pulled at his robes, as they had both slept in them, and grinned, his hand brushing by his wand, a small surge of pleasant heat racing up his arm. "What time is it?" he asked, stifling a yawn. Before Eve could answer, however, there was a whooshing sound, and the fire suddenly burst to life, crackling green flames licking at the firewood. Out of it, coughing slightly, came Lorelei, carrying a large bundle of what looked like food.

"You missed breakfast," she said. "But I'm glad you're awake now. Did you sleep well? Usually Rudolphus wakes me up at dawn, but I guess he must have known that you two needed your sleep."

"What did you just do?" asked Eve in amazement; the green flames in the fireplace were gone, replaced by a comfortably crackling normal fire. Lorelei stumbled over to Eve's bed, tripping on her robes, which matched Eve's, and sat between them.

"Floo powder," she said. "Our fireplace is connected to the school's network. You can use it form 4 in the morning to ten at night. I wouldn't be caught outside after ten, though; you can't get back in until the next day. Especially not with the Umbugular Slashkilters that guard the Great Hall at night," she whispered fiercely. Danny looked over to Eve and shrugged; they hadn't seen anything that had been remotely terrifying when they had been in the Grand Hall the night before, other than Howl. "Anyway, it's Saturday, so we don't have classes today. I can show you around, if you like."

"I think we were going to try and learn these spells today," Eve said, showing her the list of spells again. Lorelei smiled and clapped excitedly.

"Oh, I know just the place!" she cried. "I can help you; follow me!" Just as Danny had grabbed what looked like a small pie, Lorelei took both by the wrists and dragged them up to the fireplace, sprinkling on the flames some powder from a small sack on her belt. She closed her eyes, instructing Eve and Danny to do the same, and said, strongly, "Great Hall."

She stepped forward into the emerald-green flames, and in an instant they felt a small tickling sensation, which licked at their legs. Eve opened her eyes slowly, just a crack, as they whooshed through the fireplace; she saw more fireplaces, just like theirs, pass, almost too quickly to be recognizable, surrounded all around by green. Before them, a large fireplace grew nearer and nearer; in an instant Eve, Danny, and Lorelei stumbled out into the Great Hall.

It looked completely different than it had the other night. Gone were the layers of dust that seemed to coat everything, the cobwebs and the spiders. The tables were straight, and in neat lines, repaired and beautiful, the golden wood shining elegantly. On each of the tables, every few feet, was a delicately carved ice sculpture, depicting various creatures, all of which spurted streams of water out of their mouths. The water fell on the tables, solidifying, but not into ice, making a sort of liquid tablecloth. All along the wall were several dozen fireplaces just like the one they had just come out of, and several students walked out of them in stride.

Eve nudged Danny, and pointed up to the great stained window above the Hall; it had changed, no longer depicting the two wizards and the roiling sky, but rather a middle-ages wizard with a white beard, standing triumphant over a somewhat younger wizard with blonde hair. There was light coming down onto the winner's wand, a long, white rod that was depicted to glow.

"Come on, then," Lorelei said, adjusting her ashen-covered lion's head hat and leading Danny and Eve on. Around the Great Hall, several groups of a dozen or so candles floated, moving slowly around the room, from barely touching the floor to the vaults of the great cathedral ceiling. In the daylight, the rest of the castle seemed less intimating, but it was still rotting and falling apart, many doors broken or missing altogether, revealing the equally broken rooms within. The halls wound and turned with sharp angles, and in the day, the cold grey stone walls were decorated with large banners depicting the school's crest, a white unicorn and a black, winged, skeletal horse- "a thestral," Lorelei said- crossing their necks and looking straight forward.

Lorelei led them outside of the castle, which looked more ancient than ever. From here Eve and Danny could see that it was hardly a castle at all, a single story, comprised of winding hallways and rooms. In the center they could see the Great Hall rising up, it's own building, and it looked as if half of the school had simply been shorn off. There were hills behind the castle, and around Danny and Eve there were still a few small ones, covered in ice and snow, which still fell from the sky in small flurries. Though their breaths misted, Eve and Danny found themselves to be quite warmth under their fur robes.

"The grounds are extensive; they go around the entire world," Lorelei said, watching Danny and Eve as they looked at the castle disappointedly.

"What do you mean, around the entire world?" Eve asked, intrigued.

"Well, you see, the castle is only sort of central location. The classrooms and offices and dorms and whatnot are spread over the entire world. Our dorm, for instance, is floating over Scandinavia. I think. It tends to move." Danny and Eve blinked at her, gaping. "Quite the levitation spell. All of the dorms are floating somewhere in air. I've heard that there are some over Brazil. Not that anyone really ever knows, of course; you can't see very well through the windows."

"Then, where are the classrooms?"

"Oh, well, first you have to go into the classroom in the castle. There's usually a portkey there that'll take you to wherever your class is that day. It changes a lot; my favorite is my Kelpie Care class, it's in Loch Ness," Lorelei said without batting an eye, as if this were all quite normal. "Of course, you can't Apparate off of school grounds. They've set up pockets of Apparition Zones so that you can go to the dorms and offices and castle, if you want. But I expect you two can't Apparate, huh." Eve shook her head; Danny was still in shock.

"The castle's not all that bad though," Lorelei continued. "I mean, it's got the Quidditch fields."

"What's Quidditch?" Danny asked. This, even Lorelei couldn't find the words to explain, simply calling it a sport played on broomsticks.

"The Quidditch World Cup just ended," she said. "Bulgaria versus France. Bulgaria won, of course; they've got Viktor Krum." Danny perked up; he remembered the man, and the name, from when they had been at the World Cup a few days before. "Of course, that's Professor Krum to us. He's the Quidditch coach here now, after Professor Rodin had that accident with the Bludger."

Danny and Eve didn't ask, but simply followed Lorelei as she brought them further and further from the castle, into the snowy hills around it. The pine trees here were heavily weighted with snow, and groves of them protected small, icy ponds. There were students milling about, but not many; they were all in crowds, and laughed and talked amongst themselves.

"Here we are," Lorelei announced suddenly, stopping at a iced-over pond, where the ice was especially thick. "If you can cast a spell on ice, you can certainly do it on solid ground. The trees here have bowtruckles, too." Eve nodded; this was the first creature that Lorelei had mentioned that she recognized, from Ollivander's.

Danny whipped out his wand, balancing it on his hand; he loved the sensation of feeling the warmth of the wood as it danced beneath his fingers. Eve, on the other hand, held her lifeless wand despairingly, frowning at it in distaste. "Do you know anything?" Lorelei asked. In return, and secretly wanting to show off, Danny levitated a nearby stone and pointed his wand carefully, stepping onto the thick, sleek ice, his footsteps crunching beneath him.

"_Reducto!_" he yelled, and the rock exploded in midair, sending a small shower of sand onto the ice. He, however, went flying back, skidding across the ice and landing hard in a nearby snowdrift. Eve laughed and pointed while Lorelei clapped vigorously.

"That was very good! Now you, Eve." Eve groaned, and stepped onto the ice. She, too, levitated a stone; it rose high above their heads, and she beamed in delight at the sudden success of her spell. She figured it was because of their full nights' sleep, and took a smug sort of satisfaction from Danny's stunned looked and Lorelei's exuberant clapping.

"Now try the Reductor Curse," Lorelei encouraged while Danny sulked. Eve smiled at him, knowing it would annoy him; he liked being the star of the show too much to let this one not get to him. Eve raised her wand a bit higher, and shouted- "_Reducto!_"- watching as the red flash exploded from the tip of her wand and hit the stone. Before she could see the impact, however, in kickback Eve was knocked over, sent stumbling across the ice until landing face-first in a small pile of snow. She ignored Danny's unsuppressed snorts of laughter and stood up, brushing her robes off and looking to the stone. It had clattered to the ice, completely unharmed.

"It's her wand," Danny explained to Lorelei as Eve screamed at the rock, casting the curse again and again, each time flying back into the snow, frustrated. "It's not hers, see; she had to order one special from Ollivander, and he's making it for her. She has to use this one until it's ready."

"Well, your Reductor Curse needs work, too," Eve said, sniffing and breathless, having given up out of frustration. Lorelei agreed, and stepped onto the ice, levitating a rock up to the lower boughs of a pine tree. She showed Danny how to stand, his knees bent and his feet about shoulder-width apart, as to provide more support.

"_Reducto!_" Danny cried, sliding back only a couple of inches on the slippery ice as the rock fell to dust on the ground. Eve clapped begrudgingly as Lorelei clapped encouragingly, and Danny beamed, trying the curse again and again until his feet didn't slide at all along the ice.

"Good! Now, Eve, you try!" Lorelei said, pushing Danny off the ice playfully and pulling a struggling, defiant, and frustrated Eve onto it. "Okay, I'm going to levitate this stone up again; I want you to do just what Danny did." Eve nodded, and braced her feet, letting Lorelei bring the stone up to the same height. In her minds' eye, Eve could see the smug look that Danny wore, could feel the pain of crashing into the snow drifts again and again, and that sparked a fury in her; she screamed the name of the curse, and felt the power ricochet from her mind to her wand to the stone. It exploded into a thousand small pieces, and left Eve panting in effort.

Danny blinked as Eve stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh yeah?" he said, looking at the list of spells quickly. "How about this: _Stupefy!_" A red bolt like lightning shot out of his wand, hitting a surprised Eve square in the chest. She stumbled back a few feet, and crumpled to the ground, completely unconscious. Danny rushed to her side; he hadn't expected his spell to work, he hadn't ever tried it before.

"Danny!" Lorelei reprimanded him. "That wasn't very nice!" She leant over Eve, rolled her over, and put her wand on her chest, muttering, "_Ennervate_." Eve stirred, and opened her eyes. Before Danny could react, she jabbed her wand into his ribs.

"_Flipendo_," she hissed, laughing as Danny was blown into the air, soaring a moment before falling into a drift of snow a yard or two away from the frozen pond. She took Lorelei's hand, and stood shakily, slipping on the ice as she tried to stand. "You're not the only one who studied the list last night, Danny!" she called out to him.

"How did you know I studied the list? You were asleep!" he called back, brushing the powder snow off of his robe. Eve laughed, and let Danny step back onto the slippery ice.

"This is good," Lorelei said decisively. "Since you both know the list pretty well, let's see what you two can do. Ok, Eve, let Danny back onto the ice." Danny situated himself, then threw his shoulders back, looking proudly at Eve, who glared at him with a sudden ferocity and lowered her wand. "One- two- three- go!" Lorelei cried, screaming in delight as they cast their spells off.

"_Locomotor Mortis!_" Danny cried, just as Eve yelled "_Petrificus Totalus!_" Both spells hit, and Eve instantly began to struggle with standing, her legs stuck together, soon falling to the ice with a loud crash. Her spell had only worked halfway; his legs were rigid, as if turned to stone, and after a moment of struggle with balance, Danny crashed to the ice as well. Both of them grunted, and Lorelei walked over to each daintily, tapping each of their noses with her wand. As it touched her, Eve felt her legs break apart, and Danny bent his knees, and both groaned as they at up, rubbing the backs of their heads and wincing. Lorelei helped them both to their feet.

"Okay, that probably wasn't a great idea," she admitted, sulking. "Okay, let's see this list." She began to read the spells aloud. "_Wingardium Leviosa…Reducto…Locomotor Mortis…Petrificus Totalus…Expelliarmus…Flipendo…Lumos_ and _Nox…Reparo…Stupefy…Alohamora…Accio…_this is a good list. How long did Howl give you to learn them?"

"Until tomorrow," Eve answered, shooting a look at Danny.

"And how many do you know?"

"All of them," both Eve and Danny answered in unison. They both shot a dirty look to one another, but those broke into smiles, and then laughs. When Lorelei demanded that they show her what they could do again- this time, not on each other- Eve nodded to Danny.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Danny shouted. Instantly, a reddish purple bolt of light shot from his wand to Lorelei's hand; the scroll of spells flew into the air.

"_Accio list!_" Eve said, and the scroll flew towards her, losing heart halfway and falling to the snow. Eve frowned, and bent to pick the list up. "Stupid wand," she muttered, annoyed.

"Well, it's only for another couple of days," Danny said encouragingly, and for the next several hours Lorelei insisted that they practice their techniques and spells, muttering a spell- Eve thought she heard "_Geminio_"- and making magical copies, identical twins, of Danny and Eve, living, fighting targets for them to practice on. As the sun began to set, the duplicates, worn and bruised, disappeared, leaving only the real Danny and Eve, worn and bruised, on the ice, which was now scratched from so many times of feet or bodies sliding across it.

The silver snow clouds dulled to grey, and darkened more and more under the setting sun as the three walked back to the castle. The snow flurries had turned into a light snowstorm, and Eve wrapped her robes tight around her as they walked through the glistening hills up to the castle. They walked over a hill, stopping a moment as its crest to see the castle from a different angle than before. From here they could see that the entire thing was hanging over a cliff, and it looked like half of the castle had fallen down the steep slope, for at the base of it were scattered large rocks, now buried beneath the snow. Under this massive cliff was a large field, split into massive sections. Each of these sections had three fifty-foot-high hoops at either end, and Lorelei simply commented that these were the Quidditch fields. There must have been five of them.

They sat down in the Great Hall, watching as the other students filed in from all sides, some using the Floo powder fireplaces, others the door, others just appearing with a sharp pop. Soon, all of the long dinner tables were full of students, all dressed in same fur, all talking amongst themselves in a buzzing white noise. Eve and Danny sat across from Lorelei, who was trying to explain the politics of the student body to them. She seemed to forget a lot that Danny and Eve had no experience in the wizarding world, and had no idea what she as talking about.

"Not everyone here is a nice person," she whispered fiercely. "There are a lot of Slytherins here, as well as people from Durmstrang. We don't have a lot of graduates from Beauxbatons; most are from Hogwarts. You see, Slytherins are a good match for this school. They don't really teach ethics here, they only teach power. It's good, for most people, they turn out good enough, but a lot of very Dark wizards have passed through these halls.

"There's one of them now," she muttered, pointing to a thin, pretty girl surrounded by a tight group of other girls and boys at the end of a table not too far away. "Lucifera DuMarne. The only girl to ever be accepted into Durmstrang, ever. Her granddad was a Death Eater, back in the days of Voldemort. I guess it runs in the family; you don't want to come across her in the halls alone. She's a Beater on the school's Quidditch team." Eve looked her over as she laughed with her friends. She had dark, flowing hair that cascaded over shoulders, and she flipped it occasionally with a thin, dark hand. She looked of mixed ethnicity, her hair shiny and black, but her skin as dark as charcoal. She was beautiful, but there was something in her amber eyes, something that her wicked smile didn't touch as she laughed with her posse.

"Is she mean or something?" she asked, almost naively, to Lorelei.

"Worse; she's a Physical Magic major. That's sort of like a sub-branch of the Dark Arts; most of the people who come out those schools of magic end up going Dark. She's a master of curses, too, and not the kind that you two were doing today. The Reductor Curse would do barely anything to her," Lorelei explained, shivering. "I've heard she's part veela, too, but I think that's just a rumor. Though, it would explain a lot. Though they're enchanting, veela are notorious for their violent mood swings and powerful magic."

"What are the teachers here like?" Danny asked, changing the subject as easily as he could. Lorelei seemed to relax immediately, adjusting the lion's head hat on her head so that it was straight up.

"Well," she said, "there's the Dean, Professor Howl. He's very powerful, very mysterious, but most wizards are afraid of him. I've heard he's an Animagus, can turn himself into a giant eagle." Eve and Danny looked at each other; Howl hardly seemed the mysterious and terrifying type. "Then, there's Professor Markl; he's the Transfiguration professor. Also very powerful, but a bit doddy." It seemed ridiculous that Lorelei should call anyone else doddy, and Danny choked on his pudding. "The Care of Magical Creatures professor is Professor Mardaline; she's very nice, though a lot of people don't like her. I never really understood why. She really seems to think a lot about plimpies.

"Professor Calcifer is probably the professor you two want to avoid the most," Lorelei warned them. "They say he's part fire demon. Very powerful, teaches the Dark Arts. Of course, he doesn't call them that. Here, there isn't a such thing as Dark Arts. It's all magic, it's just a matter of how you use it." Danny shivered, and looked to Eve, who looked horrified. Lorelei broke the mood by continuing her list of teachers.

"I already told you about Professor Krum," she said, flushing a little. "He's really very handsome, all of the girls want him. Even Lucifera DuMarne. I don't think he'd ever go for a girl like me, though," Lorelei muttered, shifting uncomfortably. Eve instantly jumped in with comfort.

"You never know, he might. You're a very beautiful girl, Lorelei!" she said, rubbing Lorelei's hand from across the table. Lorelei looked up, and smiled, but blinked- possibly for the first time all day.

"You don't understand; I don't think he'd go for a girl at all." At this, Danny flushed, and again choked on his pudding. Eve, having no response to this, settled back in her chair uncomfortably. "But, then there's Professor LaHaye, she teaches Defensive Magic, and Professor Hayeel, he teaches Charms. He's from the Middle East, you know. Very powerful," she said solemnly. "Has his own magic carpet and everything. A bit clichéd, but I think he likes it that way." Dinner was over, and the masses of students had cleared from the tables by the time Lorelei was done listing all of the teachers and what she thought of them, from History of Magic to Divination to Arithmancy.

"We've got a long day tomorrow," Eve finally said, to break from the boredom of the long spiel. "We should go to bed, rest up."

"Oh, of course!" Lorelei said, pointing to a fireplace. "Just take some Floo powder off of one of the mantels, close your eyes, and say 'Dorm!' very firmly. Be careful; it's really easy to end up in the wrong room." Danny and Eve thanked her, and then rushed off, standing in front of a fireplace while Lorelei played with her leftover pudding.

"Dorm," Eve said, and they disappeared into the emerald green flames, only to walk out a moment later into their messy dorm. The animals scattered as they entered, and Danny cleared a niffler off of his bed, lying down and facing Eve, who sat on hers.

"What do you think of her?" he asked.

"Very odd, but I think she's fun," Eve replied, knowing that he was talking about Lorelei. "I like her hat." Danny chuckled, petting the occamy absentmindedly.

"Do you remember what she said about Howl, how was powerful, but mysterious, and that a lot of people are afraid of him?" Eve nodded. "Well, he doesn't seem that way to me."

"No, but Ollivander did say that that's the only veela hair wand he's ever sold. He said that they're untrustworthy; maybe that says something about Howl. The wand chooses the wizard, and all that." Danny nodded, turning over onto his back and looking at the nargle-infested mistletoe, which looked just like any other mistletoe.

"It's still unbelievable," Eve said after a moment.

"Yeah. Can you imagine our high school reunion?" They both laughed at that, at the shocked looks on the faces of their peers as they walked in, wearing their robes and waving their wands. There was another long silence; this time, when Eve looked over to Danny, she saw his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling softly. He was asleep. She smiled, and did the same, letting sleep close her eyes and rock her into her dreams, humming a lullaby as bliss descended over the dorm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey there- pronghorn here again. This is where we introduce the first real non-OC character...rawr. Anyway, as a thank you for reading this far, we're going to let you wait a few days to read the next chapter! Woohoo! I voted party, but pelham said no...**

The next morning Rudolphus woke them as Lorelei had promised with a terrible shrieking that set Lorelei's kneazle on a hissing and scratching rampage, of which Eve was the sole victim before Lorelei managed to calm her down. Scratched and a little unnerved, Eve stood up and woke Danny, who, amazingly enough, had not yet woken from his slumber. Feeling a little grimy, the pair asked about the possibility of a bath before they went down for breakfast. Lorelei, who had been busily filling food-bowls since she had removed the young kneazle's claws from Eve's face, laughed a little.

"Well, we have a shower, I suppose, but I currently have a nest of boomslangs living in the bathtub, and, well, their venom tends to be a bit of a buzz kill. For the past few months I've just been spelling myself clean." Deciding that having the oils and dirt poofed away would be far better than being bitten by a highly venomous snake, Eve and Danny readily agreed and stood before her for inspection. Biting her lip Lorelei drew her wand and pointed first at Eve, muttering "_Scourgify_" under her breath and then repeating the spell on Danny. Eve and Danny gasped, the sensation of a coarse brush covering their skin. When it had dissipated they were red, as if someone had scrubbed them down, and hard.

"I'm still working out the kinks. The spell is originally intended for cleaning floors and the like, you see." Wincing, Eve and Danny nodded, following Lorelei over to the fireplace. She let them try on their own that day, giving each a pinch of Floo powder. One after the other they tossed the powder in the fire and shouted "Great Hall!" before disappearing in a flare of green flame. They appeared abruptly in the Hall, which smelled distinctly of waffles and pastry.

The windows had once again changed, this time depicting a very long snake with a great horned head, slithering between statues with horribly grotesque and pained expressions. Eve and Danny, despite themselves, were fascinated by the craftsmanship of the window and were only able to tear their gazes away when Lorelei physically dragged them to an empty table.

Lorelei, who, despite her small frame, ate like a horse, dug in greedily to a huge stack of pancakes, eating with reckless abandon. Eve and Danny were much more conservative in their choices, as neither one had been up long enough to be truly hungry, but each stuffed a few pieces of fruit into their pockets for later. As Danny and Lorelei made small talk, Eve's attention began to wander, scanning the other students with a critical eye. They didn't look any different than normal people, and yet they were all highly competent wizards. Eve stared glumly at the stupid stick she held in her hands. It was driving her positively mad.

Her gaze once again returned to the other students and then eventually fell on a boy. Well, not a boy, a young man, but she supposed it was really all relative. He was hunched over a table, reading a supremely thick tome, with no one seated anywhere in his near proximity, as if he was diseased. He was tall, even sitting down, and his long and roughly cut curly, chocolate colored hair fell unevenly about his shoulders. She couldn't see his face, his thick bangs obscuring her view, so she studied his hands. They were masculine but looked nimble with well-tended nails, something she respected immensely as biting was her own terrible habit, and were covered in swarthy skin.

Danny, who by now had become all too aware that his friend had long since checked out of their conversation, followed her gaze, his eyes widening when they reached their mark. He glanced quickly to his friend's thoughtful expression and blanched. He attempted to stop her, grab her arm, tell her that the guy screamed bad news, but she was, as she had always been, unusually strong for a girl and she pushed herself up easily from the table, striding excitedly over to talk to the young man.

Danny cursed and Lorelei laughed a little. "She's rather bold, isn't she?" Danny rolled his eyes.

"When it comes to talking to people, random strangers we don't know and who are more than likely dangerous, yes, she is very bold." Lorelei chuckled again, this time a little dryly.

"Well, you're right- this time, at least." Danny frowned, his full attention returning to his roommate.

"What do you mean?" Lorelei shifted so she was looking at the table where Eve had just sat down.

"That guy, the one Eve's talking to," Lorelei said her voice conspiratorial.

"Yes?" grumbled Danny, wanting her to get to the point.

"He's a werewolf."

Eve, by this time, had crossed the hall, her insides giddy with anticipation. Something about this guy intrigued her, and no one deserved to be alone at breakfast. At least unless they wanted to be alone; but she would figure that out in a moment. Stopping before the table the cleared her throat a little. The guy did not respond, not one flicker of movement to acknowledge her existence. Eve bit her lip. "Pardon me, but do you mind if I sit?" The man didn't bother to look up but responded.

"You're going to sit down whether I want you to or not." He stated, his voice a little husky, as if from disuse. Eve wavered a little.

"But is it okay?" Something in her tone made him twitch.

"Just sit, woman." Eve's eyebrows raised and her mouth pursed with distaste, but she sat, unwilling to abandon her objective.

"I saw you sitting here all alone and I figured I'd come say hi." The man didn't respond, his left hand disappearing behind his curtain of hair with a morsel of food presumably meant for his mouth. "My name's Evelyn, by the way. Evelyn Berry. My friends call me Eve." A rasping sound that might have been a laugh escaped his throat.

"And what in the name of Merlin gave you the impression that I could possibly want to be friends with a ditzy little girl like you?" Eve blinked. She was neither ditzy nor little.

"Well, nothing really. I just figured I'd give it a shot." The man laughed derisively.

"Leave, girl. Before I lose my temper." Eve's eyes grew flat and her arms crossed stubbornly in front of her chest, her lips setting in her growing anger.

"Oh you're worried about losing **your** temper." She said with a short bark of a laugh. "Sugar, you don't know what mad is." A southern drawl had crept into her voice, as it tended to when she got upset. At her accent the youth looked up, confused, revealing cool, sort of muddy brown eyes, gently arched ebony eyebrows, and dozens of silvery scars, thin and pale with age. Just as he was about to speak Danny swept in, grabbing Eve's arm.

"Eve, we have to go. Leave him alone, Howl's expecting us." Danny had to fight to keep the panic from his tone as his gaze slid nervously towards the young man, who was watching him with what Danny took to be the gaze of a predator. He squeezed Eve's arm tighter and she winced.

"What is your prob-" He cut her off.

"We need to go, now." His voice offered no argument. The man across the table, who was still watching the pair with his silent, intelligent gaze, smirked a little at his fear, revealing a very distinct, white canine.

"Best listen to your nanny, little girl." Eve rolled her eyes, not quite as extreme a reaction as the young man had been fishing for, and stood to go with Danny, who she was beginning to suspect ill by his pallor.

"Thank you for your time." She said coolly before allowing herself to be led off, without even once glancing over her shoulder back at the guy. When they were out of the dining hall and beginning to wander the ruination that was the castle, Danny's pace finally slowed and he released her arm. She stopped him and turned him. "What was that back there? I mean, the guy's a jerk but that was… a bit over the top." Danny bit his lip, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he brooded over information he had been told only minutes before, information he now wished he did not know.

"Nothing, I just… I don't like him." Eve laughed, the sound hearty and rich and true.

"Well I don't think he liked us much either." Danny attempted a smile but fail, his serious gaze holding Eve's.

"Eve, stay away from that guy. He's dangerous." Eve blinked, curious, but seeing Danny's panic did not inquire further.

"Alright." Danny took her hands tightly.

"Promise me, Eve." She blushed a little at his intense stare.

"Okay already! I promise! Because, you know, it's going to be so hard for me to stay away from a guy who patronizes me and is in general really unpleasant." Her sarcasm, as usual, was barely noticeable, except by a trained ear such as Danny's. Their conversation drifted to lighter venues as they wandered the halls eventually finding their designated classroom. A piece of parchment was pinned there with a bejeweled penknife. The message read thus:

_Dearest Evelyn and Daniel,_

_I must apologize. I have been summoned by the Ministry, a most trying affair, and I am afraid I will be most glaringly absent from today's lessons. Try to fight on without me, my cherubs, for I will return on the morrow when we must retrieve Evelyn's wand. However I have planned for such an occurrence and as such you will not be allowed to be idle and bemoan my absence (as I am quite sure you will in your free time). Your morning will be dedicated to Quidditch, for it is a lovely sport and, frankly, you're both beginning to look a little stout. Or is it thin? I can't rightly remember. Ah well, regardless, off to the Quidditch fields with you, Professor Krum is already expecting you. And after lunch report back here, where Professor Hayeel will conduct your lessons._

_Lovingly yours,_

Howl

"That's a rather large signature," commented Danny, tearing the letter off the wall to read it more closely. Eve, fascinated by the dagger, began to work on it and with much effort tugged it from the door.

"Do you think he'd mind if I kept this?" she asked, fingering the curvature of the blade. But Danny was elsewhere, his expression the refreshing blankness of someone lost deeply in thought. Eve, who occasionally had her moments of lightning fast intuition, slipped the dagger into her pocket, which she had discovered to be much deeper than it should have been. "It's Krum, isn't it. He's the one you're brooding about." Danny blushed and attempted to deny it but a wide grin had spread across Eve's face. "Don't you lie to me, Daniel Mikhailovich, I knew you had the hots for him the first time I saw you lay eyes on him at the World Cup." Danny, annoyed at how right she truly was, looked away grumbling. Eve laughed, taking his hand.

"Come on, we don't want Professor Krum to be mad, he'll punish us." She paused, licking her lips wickedly. "Or perhaps you want that? Hmm? How about it Danny-boy?" Danny blushed crimson at the sultry quality of her voice and made as if to tackle her. Eve screeched with glee, tearing off down the hall towards the exit and the Quidditch fields, a blushing and exhilarated, but laughing, Danny in hot pursuit. They crashed unceremoniously and loudly through the virtually empty halls, hardly stopping to think as to where the other students might be; in class, of course, but they didn't consider that as they burst out of the castle, tripping into the fields of snow-covered hills.

Finally, both had to pause and catch their breath, both crouching down and panting, laughing as Danny halfheartedly punched Eve on the shoulder. "Is this…the road…that we…have to go on?" Danny asked, his lungs burning as they took in the chill of the morning air. Eve looked around; it seemed so, this was the only road that led from the castle down to the very edge of the cliffs. "What do you suppose we have to do to get down there?" he asked a moment later, as they approached the cliff. The road wasn't very long, and a quick glance behind them showed no one stirring inside of the castle.

The road, of course, explained itself a moment later, dropping down at a horribly sharp angle when it met the cliff. It became very narrow, and instead of a road, down the cliff face was carved a long case of roughly hewn stairs. Danny let Eve go first, wearing a fake smile of chivalry (to which she rolled her derisively), following her a few steep stairs behind. The stairs down the cliff her long, and grueling, and although they were climbing down, both of them felt a slight burn in their legs by the time they came across the first of the Quidditch fields.

"So what do you think this Quidditch thing is?" Eve asked Danny as they walked the short, grassy path from the base of the cliff to one of the fields. He shrugged.

"Well, Lorelei said it was a sport played on broomsticks…and if there's a World Cup for it, I guess it must be pretty popular," he reasoned. He tried to act cool, knowing full well that all he really wanted to do was look around for their new professor. Of course, he couldn't let Eve know that, and so he kept a set face and kept walking. Soon, they came across a five-point fork in the road, and, after arguing a moment as to which way to turn, they decided and took a course for the nearest, right-hand field.

As they passed by the long shadows of the hoops of the field beside them, Eve looked up and noticed four or five birds flashing by extraordinarily quickly in the center of the field; blinking, she saw that it was in fact four or five people dressed in their same robes, all mounted on broomsticks and flying unbelievably fast up and down the field. Pausing a moment, one of the flying people descended several yards, and as Eve felt Lucifera DuMarne look directly at her, she felt a slight chill spread across of her back. Lorelei's words of warning about Lucifera echoed in her ears, but she waved it off and dashed to catch up with Danny; he was nearly to the entrance to the field, which was marked by a crude signpost.

"Is this where we're supposed to go?" Eve said nervously, hoping that they could stray further from Lucifera DuMarne and her broomstick-riding friends, who were now all gesturing and laughing at Eve and Danny. Danny nodded, and pointed to the center of the field; Eve quietly cursed under her breath.

Standing in the center of the grassy lawn, beside what looked like an ancient, moldy old chest, was the young man from the dining hall, his student's robes fluttering spectacularly around him as he waited impatiently for someone- probably, Danny thought, his heart sinking, them. Somehow, he had had time to tie his masses of curly hair back, in a tight knot behind his head, and, with his face now fully revealed, Eve looked at him with cold interest.

His face was impassive, at best, and he seemed to have several long scars, thin, white, stark against the swarthy quality of his skin, lining his rough, unshaven cheek and thin lips. His features were almost hawkish, sharp, and his almond shaped eyes looked over everything, as if watching all of his surroundings with a trained eye. He was certainly tall, almost too tall, and muscular, but lithe, and he didn't seem dangerous as he stood there in the delicate snows, adjusting the thick leather bracelets that bound his wrists. Danny tensed at the sight of him, the dark image in his mind of this man ripping his skin off to reveal the sleek body of wolf, jumping at them, attacking them…

His face fell as Danny and Eve approached, but Eve made it clear for him to tell that she wasn't the happiest person in the world about this arrangement, either. "Professor Krum will meet you up there," he said, his voice hollow and monotone, already annoyed, just by their presence. Eve looked at him dead on, unwavering.

"Up where, exactly?" she said sweetly, too sweetly, the Southern charm slipping its fingers almost undetectably into her voice. The man raised a thick eyebrow at her curiously, and sneered, pointing with a long finger up.

"Up," he spat. "I'm the one supposed to teach you how to get up there," he explained halfheartedly. "My name's Dominic; I'm the assistant to Professor Krum and the broom-maker for the school's Quidditch teams. I guess I'll be teaching you kids how to fly today." It sounded almost as if he had thought about putting a touch of false enthusiasm in his voice, and chose not to. "You two should grab a broom. And change into your leathers. Don't want the ickle firsties to get hurt," he jeered, his eyes narrowing as her jabbed a thumb crudely behind him. Behind him, on the edge of the field, was erected a crude sort of white tent, almost completely hidden by the snow. Danny massaged Eve's shoulder, half leading, half dragging her away from the fight he knew she would love to provoke with Dominic.

"Don't start a fight with him," Danny warned her; she was positively fuming, already ranting about the man and his manners.

"So rude, who does he think he is? Like- you don't just treat someone like that when you don't even know them? What kind of normal person does that?" she cried, frustrated. Danny thought a moment, then solemnly agreed.

"No normal person," he muttered under his breath as Eve stormed into the white canvas tent. Danny half expected it to be liken to the ones at the World Cup, a small house inside, furnished and warm, but instead all he met was the cold ground and a few knotty shelves, all covered in odd pieces of what look like flexible leather armor. There was a single, worn bench, and brooms were stacked in the corner, the handles rough and worn; overall, the small tent didn't have the warmest feel to it. Eve was still fuming as she investigated the leather on the shelves; she didn't notice the other man standing in the corner of the tent, his face covered in shadow, quietly sipping something out of a flask. He replaced the flask to one of the loops on his belt, and stepped forward. Danny gasped, and tugged as a still-furious Eve's robes. She turned, to him, angry, and looked past him, her eyes widening as her angry rant fell silent.

"You are Danny and Eve, I azzume," the swarthy man said, a thick Bulgarian accent heavy laden in his rumbling voice. Danny fumbled for a seat at the cold bench, and Eve's demeanor changed in a second, from furious to what Danny recognized as making fun of him, even if the professor didn't know it, watching her mouth as she suppressed the urge to smile. "I am Professor Krum; Headmassder Howl told me that ze two of you were to learn to fly today." Danny managed a nod, and looked to his new professor under hooded eyes.

Krum was, as he remembered, not a tall man, about his height, maybe a touch taller. His appearance was as gruff as his voice, as if he had been weathered at for many years; he was, however, a younger man, no more than thirty, if that. His clothing, which was so different than that of Howl's, was simple, a fur cloak tossed casually over one shoulder, a deep scarlet shirt, much like that Danny wore, a simple black pant. He wore heavy black boots, Danny noticed, as he looked the man over. A big man, he decided. Not with fat, but years of hard muscle. To add to his almost military look was his hair, buzzed extremely close to his scalp, and the neatly trimmed dark hair on his sturdy jaw.

Eve could tell why Lorelei would be attracted to him, he was a fine sample of a man, the epitome of masculinity, but she was in no way to admire him; she was still angry with Dominic, no matter the fun that she would have with Danny about this later. "Change," Krum commanded, almost harshly, to Eve. "Over zere," he added a moment later, looking suspiciously to Danny. Danny felt frozen under his look, and fell, for moment, into his surprisingly soft flecked hazel eyes, before the man turned away from him, leaving the connection of their eye contact severed and him stunned. "You have ten minutes; get changed," Krum instructed before leaving the tent, a sleek amber broom in hand.

A moment after he left, Danny let out his breath, which he hadn't realized he'd been holding, in a deep exhale. "D-d-do you know what to do with any of this?" he stuttered, knowing full well that to look into Eve's cruelly grinning face would be to invite the ridicule. He held up a piece of the leather, examining it curiously, making sure to avoid eye contact with his friend.

"I have an idea," Eve said, and pulled her robe off. Underneath, she wore a simple black pant and the emerald green blouse, over which she placed a piece of the armor that seemed to be made up of multiple plates. "Will you tie this?" she bade Danny, who clambered behind her to tie the armor behind her back. "See?" she demonstrated. "Stomach armor." She made a growling face, trying to act tough, and Danny hooted his nervous laughter. So far, Eve hadn't made fun, but he knew that it was coming.

After several minutes of bustling about and trying out different things, Eve was nearly fully fitted out in the leather armour, having had to untie the stomach leathers to take her blouse off. Her shoulders and forearms both were covered, as were her claves, thighs and stomach; she held up a piece that looked like two flat pieces, tied together and meant to be slid over the head. "You first," Eve said to Danny, who was finishing tying on his forearm plate. She slid the armor over his head so that it fit snugly against his chest and back, and tied it down one side, nearly shaking with the effort to suppress her giggling.

"Go on, just do it," Danny said, annoyed, and instantly Eve burst into hysterics.

"I bet you wish this was Professor Krum," she giggled as she tied the final knot. He looked to her, annoyed, and slid his robes back on over the plates of leathers. He then turned to help her, hardly resisting the urge to make his own snide comment.

"Better him than Dominic," he whispered into Eve's ear as he tried to slide on the chest plate. Eve exploded into fury. Whether this was from his comment, or from the fact that the armor didn't seem to fit over her breasts, Danny couldn't tell; he rocked back, stunned, as Eve flew into a rage.

"-FIRST THEY TREAT US LIKE WE'RE NO HIGHER THAN DOGS-" Danny tried to calm her down, to massage the anger out of her; it didn't work, and she only kept on yelling, pausing every few seconds to catch a breath over her rapidly beating heart.

"-THEN, THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE THE PROPER EQUIPMENT TO FIT A WOMAN-" she was storming about the tent, seething with anger. Danny checked his watch; they only had another minute or so until they had to be on the field. "-I'M GOING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS TO THAT IDIOT DOMINIC-" and before Danny could stop her, she was gone, wearing nothing but her pants, boots, leathers, and a bra. He sighed, and grabbed two of the least worn-looking brooms in the tent, following out after her. It was stiff, moving in the cracked leather under his robes, but Eve seemed to have no problem with it, already halfway down the field, screaming fully at the top of her lungs at Dominic.

Dominic seemed stunned, in the face of this girl, gesticulating wildly and screaming at him, wearing nothing but a bra to protect herself from the bite of the snow's chill. "-IF THIS SPORT IS REALLY AS DANGEROUS AS THEYS AY IT IS-" Danny heard, scoping around for Krum. He was already on his broom, looking magnificent as his cloak swirled around him, floating a few feet behind Dominic, decidedly amused by Eve's rage. "-YOU'D BETTER PRAY NO ONE GETS HURT BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE THE PROPER EQUIPMENT TO FIT A WOMAN WITH LARGER-"

Dominic was blanching, aghast at the spectacle. In the field beside them, Lucifera and her friends were watching Eve, laughing at her, several of them nearly falling off of their brooms in side-splitting hysterics. Finally, Dominic pulled out his wand. "_SILENCIO!_" he screamed over Eve's yells. Instantly she grasped at her throat; her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming out. Danny ran over to his friend's side, wanting to glare at Dominic, but afraid to. This, of course, only made Lucifera laugh harder.

"It's clear you don't know how things work around here," Dominic seethed, snatching one of the brooms from Danny's hands and pushing into Eve's. "But you do as you're told with me. Go- finish changing. And don't say a word," he smiled wickedly. "I'll take that little charm off once you get back." Danny could see her twitching with fury, but, unable to fight anymore, and thoroughly deflated, she stormed back to the tent. "A fiery one, there," Dominic commented to Danny. He nodded.

"She gets riled up pretty easily when it comes to feminism," he said honestly, still avoiding Dominic's eyes. Lucifera and her friends, bored no that Eve was gone, went back to their game. To Dominic's blank stare, he answered, aggravated, "You know, women's rights. Women are just as good as men, and all that?" Dominic shook his head.

"Of course they are," he said. "Who said they weren't?" Danny reeled, wondering if this man had ever taken any social history classes. But, before he could explain more, Eve came trudging back through the snows, fully dressed, but looking like it was tough for her to breath. She carried her broom over her shoulder, and came to rest next to Danny. Dominic raised his wand, and Eve exhaled, screwing her face into a smile.

"Thank you," she said testily.

"Okay," Dominic started, avoiding looking at Eve, whose face was solid. "So- flying. It's really not that difficult; I'm sure even stupid Muggles could learn how to do it. Of course, that doesn't mean that you two will be able to…" Danny sighed; rubbing Eve's twitching shoulder calmingly; some people never learn. "Ok, so first set your broom to the side, about n arm's distance away."

Eve stepped away from Danny, dropping her broom with a decided puff of snow. Danny did the same, letting his broom fall to the ground to his right. "Ok," Dominic continued, "Now, hovering your hand above the broom, say 'Up'. Soon enough you won't have to do this anymore, but for kids, it's a good start."

"Up," Eve commanded, and the broom flew into her hand with such force that she yelped, stumbling back. Danny had a feeling that if he turned around, he would see Lucifera mocking them. Dominic, however, flashed a look of impressed surprise across his face. It was, though, only a flash, and while Eve shook the pain in her hand off, Danny saw that it returned to its normal impassive expression.

Danny stretched his hand out, and trying to mimic Eve, said, in a firm tone, "Up." The broom rose gently into his hand, and he grasped it with ease, smiling. Dominic, however, was not impressed.

"That's not the power you'll need if you want to fly," he said, his voice as flat as ever. "Try again." For once, Danny was at a loss- perhaps this was the thing that having the better wand didn't help him in. And so he tried again, until the broom flew into his palm with such force that it left a distinct red mark. He looked over to eve, triumphant; Dominic was showing her how to mount her broom properly.

Eve sat with the broom between her legs, grasping onto the handle firmly; beneath her, the broom felt spongy, despite it being rough wood. She squirmed a moment, and Dominic corrected her position slightly. "Move your leg up a little," he commanded. She tried, but clearly not far enough; he grabbed her leg and jerked it into place.

"Don't touch me," she snapped at him, and kicked off from the ground, hovering a yard or so above it. He stumbled backwards, not expecting Eve to be able to fly with such proficiency already.

"It's your first day- how in hell did you know to do that?" he asked, a biting, jealous tone in his voice. She smirked, trying to hide her struggle to maintain her balance.

"Softball," she remarked, not bothering to explain the sport to Dominic, who stood there, dazed. She knew something that he didn't, and that filled her with the warmth of supreme satisfaction. He was only stricken for a moment, and soon turned to Danny, who had already mounted his broom.

After a moment of grunting adjustment, Dominic stepped back. "Okay, kick off," he instructed. Danny, nervous, bent his knees slightly and pushed off of the ground, feeling his clumsy handling of the broom beneath him. His movements were jerky, but he still rose to Eve's level, and shifted his weight as to stay there. He looked down to Dominic, but he, too, had mounted his broom and was hovering between them.

"Flying," he explained, "is all about the feel of the broom under you. Shifting your weight means turning, accelerating, decelerating, whatever you want. See what you can do; and try not to fall off," he advised wisely, before speeding off like a flash of lightning up to the sky, where he joined Krum.

"Is that all the instruction we get here? 'See what you can do?'" Danny complained, nearly falling off of his broom. He heard the titters of laughter coming, undoubtedly, from Lucifera and her gang from behind him as he waved his warms frantically.

"See, this is why you should have been more athletic in high school," Eve called as she rose up higher and higher, gaining some speed. Danny followed, shakily.

"Shut up," he groaned, nearly falling off of his broom again as the ground fell farther and farther away. For the next hour or so they hovered over the ground, flying over it, Eve with ease, only sometimes struggling with balance, Danny having a much more difficult time, speeding up then suddenly stopping like a teenage driver.

By the end of the hour Eve was able to accelerate and turn easily, and she looked and felt extraordinarily natural astride her broomstick; Danny, however, was only just able to keep his broom underneath him as he tried to keep pace with Eve. "Alright, stop flying and listen," Dominic said finally, descending down to their level again. "Professor, if you want to take it from here?" He glanced to Krum, who was hovering behind Danny.

Danny turned around sharply, nearly falling off of his broom in the jerk of the sudden motion. He flushed with embarrassment as Krum nodded, and Dominic zoomed off, away from the field. "Ze most popular sport in ze wizarding world iz Quidditch," Krum said coolly, his thick accent woven in with his fluent English. "It iz not hard to play; there are not many rules." He pulled out his wand, a stiff, unyielding rod, with which he pointed at the ancient chest on the ground below, and- "_Locomotor trunk_"- brought it zooming up towards them, resting on the tip of his sleek, shining broom.

He opened it to reveal three balls, two of them small, black, and heavy-looking, chained down to the inside of the chest, and one large, rusty-red ball, with four large dents in it. Krum pulled this one out first, throwing it back and forth between his rough hands easily. "Zis iz ze Quaffle," he explained. "Ze Chasers will use it to score points in those hoops," he waved behind him, to the fifty-foot-high hoops on either side of the field. "All of ze balls in Quidditch are enchanted; ze Quaffle has charms on it so that it will fall slowly through ze air, and is easy to hold in one hand." He tossed the Quaffle lightly to Danny, and his hand shot out, catching the ball. In his surprise, he nearly tumbled off of the broom again, but he held onto the Quaffle tightly. "Every team has three Chasers.

"Zese," Krum continued gruffly, "Are ze Bludgers. Zey are ze most dangerous zings in ze game."

"They don't look very dangerous," Eve commented. Krum lifted from the chest a heavy, rugged bat, and snapped the chains binding one of the Bludgers off. It instantly zoomed off, extremely fast, making a whizzing sound right by Eve's ear as it rushed by her head.

"Zey are," Krum began to explain, rolling the r while Eve made a face; she never could. "It iz ze goal of ze Bludgers to distract ze players; it iz ze goal of the Beaters to hit the Bludgers away from zeir team and to ze other teams' players. Bludgers move very fast, and it iz very hard for zem to change direction, and zey never slow down." However, as he said that, the Bludger came hurdling back at him, and with a well-timed crack of his hefty bat, it was sent howling away. Eve swallowed nervously. "Every team has two Beaters."

Krum looked around a moment, as if suspicious, before opening a small latch to a small compartment between the crater of the missing Bludger and the chaining, squealing second one. "Zis," he said softly, holding up a small, glimmering, golden ball, covering with intricate designs, "iz ze Golden Snitch." Danny and Eve leaned forward, trying to get a better look at the small ball, which had unwrapped delicate wings and was now buzzing, struggling to get away from Krum's grasp. "Only ze Seeker may touch it; zere is one Seeker on every team, and his goal is to catch ze Snitch. The game is no over until it is caught, and games can last for days," he said darkly. "Ze Quaffle is worth ten points; ze Snitch is worth one hundred and fifty, awarded to ze team of ze Seeker who caught it."

The Snitch glowed coolly in the late morning light. "It iz very hard to see, very hard to catch," Krum said before putting the Snitch back into its compartment. "Ze last player is ze Seeker; zey guard ze goals and try to stop ze other team's Chasers from scoring."

"So there are seven players to every team?" Eve asked, just for memorization's sake. "Three Catchers, two Beaters, one Keeper, one Seeker-"

"And a partridge in a pear tree," Danny finished for her, laughing. Krum blinked at him.

"I want you two to practice with ze Quaffle. Pass it back and forth, go higher," he instructed, rising up with them as they flew up higher and higher. Now they were about forty feet up, and Danny was still shaky on his broom. Eve, however, had taken the Quaffle from him and was zooming around happily with Krum, passing it back and forth while he nodded approvingly.

"Danny!" she called out, and a second later a rusty red streak nearly hit him in the face, knocking him backwards. The Quaffle fell next to him, quickly, but just slow enough that Danny could catch it in his hands. That is, he could have, if the incoming Quaffle hadn't knocked him off of his broom. He was grasping onto the handle tightly with both hands, the Quaffle held between his feet as he swung there precariously. "Oh, no!" Eve shrieked, but Danny, eager to impress Krum, simply grunted, straining to swing himself.

He swung harder and harder until he was able to flip up onto the broom handle, nearly falling off of the broom again as he struggled to maintain his balance. "Danny…" Eve glided up next to him. "That was so cool!" she said enthusiastically.

"I was just getting the Quaffle," he said modestly, blushing, grinning hard. Krum nodded, a hint of a smile on his lips. Danny noticed that he was still holding the Bludger bat, and looked around every once in a while, looking for the demon ball in case it came speeding towards them.

"I vill let you two practice zome more, I am avraid I haffe business to attend to." He flew off, a graceful dark streak against the white snow, leaving the two friends to toss the Quaffle back and forth. Eve was sitting comfortably atop her broom, her hips level, her thighs firm against the wood of the broom. While a bit shakier Danny too sat proudly, the Quaffle fitting pleasantly in his hands.

"Krum seems nice," commented Eve, her voice genuine, teasing no longer her motivation. Danny nodded, thoroughly struck by the vitality and power of the man. "He feels like a storm," she said, her eyes misting over as she remembered the sensation of his voice. Danny chuckled a little at her description, but admitted a similar impression.

"He's pretty intense." Eve nodded vigorously but then bit her lip.

"But you know, he smiles at you a lot. In fact, he rarely takes his eyes off of you. I mean, ever." Danny blushed, surprised how much this detail pleased him. Bored with simply passing the ball Eve swooped down to return it to its case. Danny watched her, her movements agile and aggressive, as if she and the broom were one, solid entity. He watched as she looked up at him and waved. He waved back but then noticed how frantically she moved her arms, and finally, her voice from so far away reached his human ears. "DANNY! MOVE!"

Danny looked up just in time to see the Bludger come streaking towards him. He swerved, almost avoiding the blow but not quite. The ball barreled into his arm, splintering bone with a sickening crack and knocking him from his perch atop his broom. As he fell, Danny was aware of only three things: one the icy wind cutting like blades through his gear, two, pain like fire engulfing his entire left arm, and three, Eve's horrified screams piercing through the air and drowning out all other noise. Finally he collided, but not with solid ground, something soft and muscular instead. The salty scent of sweat and wood smoke filled his nose as he looked up into Krum's dark gaze, tight with worry. He could hear Eve's panicked voice in the background, hysteria clear in her features as Dominic, much to Danny's surprise, held her back, attempting to comfort the distraught young woman.

Danny's attention returned to Krum. "Am I dying?" he asked, his voice weak and strained. The Slav laughed, the sound deep in his throat.

"No, no Daniel. I vill take good care ov you, no?" And with that Danny lost consciousness, not sure if he dreamed the gentle kiss on his forehead.

Tears flooded from Eve's eyes as her body shook, violent tremors wracking her frame. She had seen it. She had seen Lucifera, smirking and laughing, bat the Bludger Danny's way, had seen him fight to avoid it, watched him tumble through the air. She hadn't even been aware she was screaming until Dominic had started shaking her telling her to snap out of it. "He's vine." assured Professor Krum, patting her head. "Just a little drowsy iz all. I vill take him to the infirmary." The man nodded to Dominic before Apparating, the unconscious Danny held tightly to his chest. Dominic, who was still holding Eve, noticed she had stopped shaking.

"Are you calm now?" he asked, shaking his head. "Honestly, the kid will be fine. Injuries like that happen all the time-" Eve tilted her head so her gaze met his and the words trailed out of his mouth. There was something there that chilled him a little, something crazy.

"Get your hands off me." Her tone was even, level, emotionless. He removed his hands and watched as she walked over to a closed Quidditch box. Eve felt a cold fury harden within her heart. No one messed with her family, and Danny was pretty much family. Someone was going to pay, with interest. Her fingers opened the clasp with a crisp snap. She could hear the laughter of Lucifera and her friends behind her and her hand reached into the box, her fingers closing around a heavy bat. The weight was solid in her grip, her fingers fitting naturally into the grooves at the handle. One more look at the girl, laughing happily on her broom and Eve released the Bludger.

Finally realizing her intent Dominic attempted to stop her, but he was too late. With perfect form she cocked her arm back and swung, her entire body going into the well-practiced movement, her features hard. The bat connected with the Bludger, resulting in a resounding crack which echoed across the fields. The ball went flying and, to the surprise of everyone hit its mark, colliding with Lucifera in the center of her chest and toppling her backward. Without a backward glance Eve mounted a broom and sped forward. She caught Lucifera, slowing her descent so the fall wouldn't kill her and then dropped the girl to the snow.

Lucifera landed on her wrist with a snap, coughing as she struggled to fill her lungs. Eve jumped off heavily beside her, her boots carving deep into the snow. "Who-who the hell d-d-do you think you are?" choked out Lucifera. A cruel smile touched Eve's lips, making the girl look slightly demented.

"So, you want to get acquainted, do you?" Eve crouched and slammed the bat into the snow inches away from Lucifera's head. "My name's Evelyn Berry, and that guy you almost killed, he's my best friend. And you know, I really don't like it when people mess with my friends, in fact, it really pisses me off." Her laugh was a little crazy and Lucifera's eyes widened in fear. "So, the next time you think you're going to be funny and try a little stunt like that again, don't, or I will find you and make sure you will be eating your meals out of a magically enchanted tube for the rest of your life. Do we understand each other?" Lucifera nodded vigorously and Eve snarled at her, her smile tight and threatening. "Good." With that she stalked off, leaving Lucifera's friends to comfort the traumatized girl.

The snow was cold and seeped deeply into her boots and toes. Eve grimaced, she really wasn't used to the cold having spent most of her life in the state of Georgia. When she finally returned to Dominic her energy was pretty much spent and her teeth were chattering as she rubbed her arms in preparation of facing the unpleasant man before her. When she glanced upwards she found him watching her with speculative eyes, bright with interest. Eve shook her head, warding off the questions. "Look, I'm sorry, but would you mind taking me to the infirmary? I am really not in the mood to discuss anything with you." To Eve's immense surprise Dominic complied. In a moment he took hold of her wrist and with a flash they vanished from the field and into the in-between.

She felt her body contorting violently and was happy she hadn't eaten very much breakfast. They arrived abruptly, Dominic standing with perfect ease while the magic sent Eve flying into a wall. She groaned loudly and was greeted by a loud, cacophonous shushing. Glancing upwards Eve's gaze met the cold eyes of a woman in form-fitting white nurse's robes. She was slim, middle-aged, and possessed the most stunningly beautiful face Eve had ever seen.

"My god." Eve said before she could stop herself. "You're gorgeous!" The woman paused, clearly flattered and taken off-guard, before tossing her iced blond curls and returning to glaring.

"No loud noises in ze infirmary. You're disturbing our patients." Eve apologized hurriedly, dazed. Even her voice was lovely, like the tinkling of glass, not commanding at all. Dominic, who had come to stand by Eve, whistled low as the woman walked away, her heels clicking and her hips swaying seductively.

"Looking good, Madam H!" he called after her. Eve shook her head bewildered. The woman turned back and shushed him, but none could mistake the bright look in her as she did so.

"Who was that?" Dominic watched her as she struggled to stand, not bothering to offer to help.

"Madame Heriot- she's French. She's the head nurse of our school's infirmary and, quite possibly, the sexiest woman alive." Eve was inclined to agree but Dominic stopped her. "Don't get too excited though, that woman is 100% fake." Eve paused.

"I've seen plastic surgery before and that woman does not have it." She said flatly, wondering if he was taking her for a fool. Dominic laughed, earning a wonderfully icy glare from Madame Heriot.

"Of course she wouldn't get that stupid Muggle procedure." He said with a chuckle. "She just has a particular powerful Glamour on today." Eve was at an absolute loss.

"Glamour?" Dominic rolled his eyes.

"It's a spell. Or, rather a charm, I suppose. It makes everyone look better. I suppose it could even improve your ugly mug." He said coolly with a sidelong glance at Eve. "The user activates it and the spell feeds off of a small amount of their energy to present a certain image. Of course, I suspect Madame H's is extremely strong, so it probably absorbs a significant part of her magic." Eve shook her head in wonder.

"Seems like an awful lot of effort." She muttered. Dominic shrugged.

"Well, some people actually attempt to look good." His voice was thick with implication and sarcasm, and Eve twitched angrily.

"Like you can talk. I doubt you even brushed your hair this morning." Dominic frowned.

"Let's go find your precious Danny," he snarled, his voice low, as he set off striding between the hospital beds. Eve, whose legs were much shorter, struggle to match pace, her eyes shooting daggers into the back of Dominic's head. It wasn't hard to find Danny's bed; it was the only one with the curtains drawn, probably as most of the students hadn't had the tie to injure themselves on the first day of term yet. The infirmary, of course, was filled with row after row of bed, all of them smooth and unused, not a speck of grime to be found along the white floors or walls. It was, however, still extraordinarily elegant, several finely decorated gold-leaf pillars surrounding a large fountain.

The fountain depicted a thin man, his robes flowing around him, with a winged helmet and shoes; in one hand he gripped a wand, in the other, two snakes. The water flowed up in a marvelous cascade from the tip of his outstretched wand, splashing with a quiet, peaceful sound to the pool beneath it. This sound was accompanied in turn by soft singing, in a hushed, whispering voice, the effect of which made Eve's eyelids grow heavy, and she found it hard to walk. "Wood elves," Dominic whispered, seemingly unable to break the serenity of the ward. "Madame H keeps a permanent Disillusionment Charm on them, so that they can't be seen. Only heard. Keeps the patients asleep. You can find them a lot around the school, in the library and such." A golden light seemed to descend from the ceiling and fall, glittering, onto the statue, bathing the cold, sterile walls in a warm light.

The curtain drawn around Danny's bed was very professional, a crisp, white linen suspended in the air by magic. Inside, Eve heard rustling; she parted the sheet with Dominic's encouragement while he stood aside. Danny was lying the bed, whose linens were creased around him, his head falling to one side in a stupor inspired by the wood elves' song, which seemed to echo off the walls. Madame H sat on the edge of Danny's bed, her legs crossed seductively while she wrapped his arm in a tight clothe. She looked up in surprise when Eve entered.

"Vy are you here?" she asked softly, her voice chiming pleasantly. Eve smiled at her graciously.

"Danny- he's my friend, I wanted to see if he's alright," Eve replied, careful to keep her voice down. Madame H nodded, her curls bouncing as her ruby lips broke into a smile, which revealed, as was expected, perfectly straight, white teeth.

"He will be fine. He just needs to be more careful on a broom," the woman replied, finishing her wrapping and looking at the arm curiously. "I zink zat ve have met befo'e, yes?" she said, half-interested, to Eve as she examined Danny.

"Well- no…you just shushed me?"

"Well, it seems zat your friend vill be fine, oui? He just needs to let his potion take effect," she purred, her voice a song. "He should be out of ze bed in an hour, good for lunch." Eve nodded graciously, and it was only then that she noticed Krum sitting on the other side of the bed from Madame H, his heavy brow wrinkled slightly. She waved to him lightly, and he gave her a sullen nod; on her way out, Eve whispered to Dominic.

"Is he always that sullen?"

"Who, Danny? How the hell should I know?" Dominic's voice was stitched with sarcasm, and Eve glared at him. After a moment Dominic's face broke into a curl of a smile, the first she had ever seen from him. "Yeah, Krum is. Has been ever since…well, never you mind that," he said, stumbling on his tongue. "How long did they say Danny's be in there. Taking a Bludger's never easy, especially when you're as shaky on a broom as he was."

"He just needs practice, is all!" Eve said defensively. Dominic snorted, and led her to the fireplace of the atrium that was the infirmary. In a flash of emerald flame, they were gone.

In his bed, Danny stirred, moaning slightly at the twinge of pain deep in the bones of his arm. His eyelids fluttered open to find a woman massaging it gently, unwrapping what looked like fresh bandages. "Insta-set bandages," she explained, her voice like wind chimes. It was pleasant, and it floated over to Danny's ears on a cushion of the sound of softly running water and a curious song, the sort of formless, never-ending melody that made Danny want to close his eyes, slip into a blissful sleep….

"You 'ave broken your arm," the woman said again. "Or, rather, ze Bludger did." She laughed, and flipped her beautiful, flowing iced blonde hair over her shoulder. "Madame Helio' 'as fixed everyzing," the woman cooed. From inside her almost scandalously low cut robes the woman pulled a small vial, filled with a thick, muddy green liquid. She pulled the stopper out with a resounding pop and bade Danny to open his mouth.

"What is that?" Danny asked as an acrid odor hit his nose, wafting from the phial.

"It vill help with ze pain," answered a deep, baritone growl from the foot of his bed. "I have been in here to see Madame H on many occasions; Quidditch players tend to have accidents," Krum explained. "Of course, yours vos a stray shot…"

"I got hit by a Bludger?" Danny exclaimed after a moment, putting hints and clues together. Instantly Madame H hushed him, and straightened his bedspread; he could hardly breathe, it was so tight. She asked him quietly to move his wrist and fingers, to flex his forearm; he complied, feeling not the slightest twinge of pain. "Was my arm broken? I can't feel a thing!" he said in amazement, looking at his arm as if it were some sort of foreign object.

"Zat iz ze potion," Madame H sang softly, taking out her delicate wand, and, with a sharp flick of her wrist, sent the curtain around his bed to fold itself and lay itself delicately on a small table beside his head. "I must be off," she said, her voice husky, to Krum. She placed a delicately manicured hand on his broad shoulder, leaning forward, low, on purpose. "You should veeseet me more often." Krum raised an eyebrow. She walked off, her hips shaking in what Danny supposed would be hopelessly seductive for most boys his age.

"So- what happened?" Danny asked Krum, after Madame H had turned a corner, pausing, of course, to blow Krum a tender kiss before her exit.

"Stray Bludger," was his only reply. "From ze field next to ours. Luceefeera must haffe hit ze zing wrong. You fell off your broom." Danny shifted, remembering what Lorelei had said about Lucifera in the Great Hall. _You don't want to come across her in the halls alone_. Danny had a sneaking suspicion that halls didn't matter to Lucifera DuMarne. "Of course, a stray vind could have blown you off your broom," Krum mused.

"Didn't you have somewhere to be?" Danny snapped, wounded by his insult. Krum look at him, surprised.

"I voz vaiting on you to vake up," came the swift reply. "Zere are better zings I could haffe done."

"Well, why don't you just do them, then?" Danny muttered, rolling onto his side, away from Krum. Though he liked to pretend he was insulted, he liked even more knowing that Krum had put off other things to bring him here, and watch over him. But, of course, he reprimanded himself, he was the man's student. Of course he had to bring him to the infirmary. He looked up to Krum, who was now standing a few feet away from the bed.

"I am off, zen," the professor said indignantly. "Madame H said zat you may go as vell. I ezzpect to see you tomorrow, during lunch, on ze Quidditch field." Before Danny could ask the question- not that he was going to object- Krum answered it. "You need more practice on ze broom. Do not bring Eve; I vill talk to her separately." With a small white flash and a resounding pop, he was gone; Danny could have sworn he saw a wink just before he Apparated. He found his robes lying folded next to the curtain; he put them on quickly and slipped out to the fireplace, sprinkling Floo powder from the mantle and saying firmly, "Great Hall!"


	6. Chapter 6

It was hard to believe, as Danny and Eve sat in the Great Hall, that it was only noon on their first day at Pronghorn. There were almost no students in hall anymore, and Danny and Eve were left alone, sitting across from each other at a table, both of their plates piled with sweetmeats that they ate with ravenous hunger. Quidditch practice had taken a lot out of them, it seemed, and they were in a hurry to get to their first lesson with professor Hayeel. Several groups of students still lingered, but none of them seemed to pay the pair any mind as they talked.

"-so we just came back here, and he said he had an advanced Potions lesson to get off to. A few minutes later, you were here," Eve said, finishing the story of her and Dominic. Danny looked nervous.

"I don't like that boy," he said. "I thought you said you'd stay away from him?" She rolled her eyes, looking at him in disbelief.

"I needed him to take me to you!" she said. Danny blinked, rubbing his eyes.

"You were in the infirmary?"

"Yeah, and so was Professor Krum." She saw him redden, and looked at suspiciously, a slow smile creeping onto her face. "What did you do?" she asked slyly. He looked away, innocent.

"Nothing," he muttered. "Just talked. He said I needed extra flying lessons." He left out most of the conversation. Eve laughed, and agreed, wolfing down food, and spraying it over the table in her laughter at the look of surprise on Danny's face. "Well, I still can't believe you beat up Lucifera DuMarne," he said, shifting uncomfortably. Eve swallowed hard.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" she asked nervously. "Do you think that I'll get- I don't know- detention, or something?" Danny laughed at her.

"This isn't high school," he chided her, and she smiled nervously. "More like we just got a powerful and dangerous witch to hate us forever, and we don't know any magic or anything whatsoever about her world at all, really. No big deal." He shrugged, smiling; his comment was meant to be lighthearted, but it rang with a somber tone of truth. "Don't we have a Charms lesson to get to?" he asked, breaking the mood. This seemed to perk Eve up considerably, and she devoured the rest of her food, leaving Danny scooting his around his plate.

He wasn't very hungry; he hated how he had left things with Krum. "_Professor_ Krum," he hissed to himself under his breath. Eve looked up, making a sound that sounded almost like a question through her full mouth. Danny shook his head. "Nothing." _He's your teacher, for Christ's sake!_ he reprimanded himself in his head. It was pounding dully, now, but before he could rub his temples, Eve was done with her food. He stood grudgingly and followed her out of the Great Hall.

Eve seemed to know where she was going, and Danny followed her, his head down, through the twists and turns of the corridors. Sunlight leaked through many of them, spreading a dappling warmth through the halls. It wasn't until after making one unfamiliar turn after the other did Danny ask Eve, "Do you know where we are?" She looked around, rocking on her hip, her arms crossed.

"I think so…come one, it ought to be just over here," she said, dashing off down a corridor. The halls were lined with doorways, here, but most of them were missing doors, revealing empty, dusty rooms inside. Every once in a while, a sound would echo through the halls; Danny dismissed it, pulling Eve from investigating one of the rooms.

"I don't think we're in the right place," he whispered. One on end, the hall ended in a heavy, solid door, worn and weathered, but still holding strong. On either side were two massive suits of armor, their spears crossed in a protective fashion over the bolted door. A cool wind seemed to blow from the door, and Danny steered a curious Eve away from it, reminding her of their Charms lesson- which, incidentally, they were already late for.

The high ceiling-ed, vaulted hallways were long, and endless, and several times Eve could have sworn they passed the same statue twice, the same painting, the same suit of armor. In the middle of the day, the castle seemed more decorated, more alive than it did at night; the cold stone was no longer cold, but was draped with intricate tapestries and paintings depicting all sorts of scenes. This one read, "_The Defeat of Grindelwald by the Great Wizard Dumbledore_"; that one was entitled, "_A Grindylow Slumbers_." In every corner stood a hulking suit of armor, and more than once Danny did a double take as one of them turned their heads to watch them as they passed.

They turned again in front of the giant, heavy doors of the Great Hall, which were engraved with the school crest. Even the eyes of the unicorn an the thestral seemed to watch them as they passed, and just as Danny was about to ask if everything here was watching them, a woman walked through the wall and stepped in front of them, walking down the hall as if nothing was the matter. The woman wasn't corporeal, but rather seemed to be made up of something silvery and cloudy, and her feet didn't touch the ground; she floated an inch or two above it, though she moved her legs as if she still walked.

The ghost wore an old Victorian dress and corset, moving stiffly, her head held high, tight curls bouncing around her face from underneath her bonnet. On her shoulder she held a parasol, and walked around the hall as if it were but a brisk summer's day. "Oh," she exclaimed calmly, seeing Danny and Eve gaping at her. Her accent was decidedly British. "Hello there. I'm Lucinda Poffing; I don't think I've ever seen you around here before." Danny and Eve, shaking, introduced themselves, Eve gripping Danny's arm, hard.

"Ah well; it was nice to meet you," the ghost said, after her gloved ahnd passed straight through Danny's extended hand, poised for a handshake. She curtseyed politely before meandering off down the hall; as she retreated, Eve pointed out a hole in the back of her head, which seemed to be leaking some sort of silvery substance, thick, like blood.

"Wait!" Danny called out to her. She turned, and glided back over to them. "Are you a…a…a ghost?" he stuttered, hardly believing his words as they came out of his mouth.

"Oh, yes," the woman said mournfully, her eyes filling with tears. "I died in this castle, a long time ago…" She sniffed, and began to sink down through the floor.

"No, no, wait," Danny said. She lifted her head, but didn't come back up, her face at the level of his stomach. "Have you seen Professor Hayeel?" She nodded, sniffling again.

"Just down that way," Lucinda pointed, before sinking into the floor altogether. For a moment, Eve could have sworn she heard the echoes of deep, sorrowful sobbing. Danny and Eve looked at each other a moment before continuing down the way that the ghost woman had pointed; after all, they had seen many odd things in the past few days, it was no surprise that a ghost should live in the castle.

The door was already open by the time that Eve and Danny found the classroom where they were supposed to go. Though it was no more decorated than before, it now had the scent of dark, exotic spices, and the light seemed a shade darker, despite the fact that outside the sun was streaming brightly on the snow-capped hills. In the centre of the room, floating several feet off of the ground on an incredibly ornate and detailed silk carpet, was a thin Indian man, his eyes closed, his legs crossed.

He wore all white robes, and the tips of his white shoes curled up; atop his head he wore a finely wound turban, all white. His face was long, and thin, with sharp featured and skin untouched by age. His skin was smooth; there were no wrinkles, or any indication at all of what his age might be at all. To contrast against the white of his robes, he wore his beard, black and bushy, down to a long point somewhere around his navel. He opened his eyes as Eve and Danny entered; they were piercingly blue.

"Hello," he said cheerily, with no accent at all. "I am Professor Hayeel." He floated up to them on his carpet, scrutinizing them carefully. The only hint to his age, it seemed, was in his eyes; they seemed ancient, worn as he looked over Danny and Eve. "I teach the delicate art of Charms," he said, finally stepping down from his carpet, which the rolled itself up in the corner.

"With Charms," he began, "one can change the world around them, manipulate their surroundings to follow their every whim. With Charms, one can breathe underwater, one can sense where the unwanted ones tread, one can control, if only for a fleeting moment, the emotions of those around them…" His voice was soft, and his words enchanting as he explained to them the possibilities of learning and mastering Charms.

"But," he stopped, suddenly, breaking Danny and Eve free from his aural spell, "it has come to my attention that neither of you know anything about Charms, or magic, at all, really." He frowned, thinking. "I suppose I will have to start from the very beginning them, the very basics…

"_Diffindo!_" he shouted suddenly, pulling his wand from his robes in a flourish and pointing it at his carpet. Instantly an awful ripping sound was heard, and the carpet let out what sounded like a scream. Hayeel walked over to the carpet and waved his long, thin wand over his carpet; in an instant the painful howling ceased, and the carpet was back as it was before. "The Severing Charm," he said, patting his carpet affectionately. "Useful spell."

With a snap of his wrist, a parchment appeared; on it, with- as Danny couldn't quite believe- a quill, the professor wrote out a long list of charms, ranging from the Severing Charm he had just used to the Engorgement Charm. Eve read it aloud, in disbelief. "Severing Charm, _Diffindo_, Engorgement Charm, _Engorgio_, Gluing Charm, _Epoximise_, Disarming Charm, _Expelliarmus_, Flame-Freezing Charm, _Frigidus ignis_, Homorphus Charm, _Homophify_," Danny snorted here, "Hot Air Charm, _Calidum_…Professor, this is a long list!"

Hayeel nodded wisely. "It's the list of all of the Charms that you will need to learn to enroll in my class next term," he said solemnly. Danny blinked as Eve dropped the scroll of parchment to its full length; it bounced on the floor, rolling out to be at least fifty feet long. Hayeel hadn't been writing for that long, Eve mused. Another Charm, most likely. "It will be a lot of work for you, and unfortunately, as you were both nearly an hour late, we have only got another two hours before my next class starts. We will be meeting twice every week, Sundays and Wednesdays; by each of these meetings, I expect that you will have at least five more Charms ready for me to inspect." Professor Hayeel seemed nice, but he also seemed like he gave a lot of work. "This is all of the spells that would ordinarily be taught in Charms classes over the course of seven years at Hogwarts; many of them are very advanced. If you have any trouble, simply go to the Floo network and come to my office. We can talk there.

"Now, then, the Severing Charm is really very simple…" he began to explain, as Danny and Eve pulled out their wands. "Oh, I've forgotten something," he said blankly. "_Protego_," he said, halfheartedly, flicking his wand at the list of spells. Instantly there were two of them, and Danny took one, feeling the weight of it and grimacing. Hayeel conjured a large tapestry, which he hung on the wall; he guided them on how to do the Severing Charm and the Repairing Charm, and by the end of the two hours Danny could both tear and repair the clothe with relative ease, and Eve could tear the clothe. Her attempts to repair it often led only to further tearing, and she looked at her wand with disgust.

"Tomorrow," Danny whispered through the side of his mouth. She smiled, thinking of how he described the feeling of being in touch with his wand, and looking forward to experienced that for herself.

At the end of the lesson, Hayeel turned to Danny and Eve, kindly demonstrating the Disarming Charm before speaking. "I will not see you until Wednesday; until that time, I expect you to practice what we've done here today, and learn the first five spells on that list. Howl wanted me to give you this." He handed Danny an embossed, sealed piece of parchment before he waved to his carpet, and it glided to be alongside him; he walked over to the edge of where the floor met the windswept, snow-covered land below. Danny gasped as Hayeel leapt off of the side of the room, but sighed in relief as he came floating up, sitting on his flying carpet and waving to them kindly.

Danny opened the letter to find Howl's familiar scrawl, his signature, of course, taking up half of the leaf.

_Dearest, Darlingest Evelyn and Daniel:_

_Tomorrow I will return, which is worthy cause of celebration. I do expect gifts; I prefer Dashing Dragonflies to Chocolate Frogs, don't you? Anyway, after we have dined on our feast that will, no doubt, await me, we shall depart to Diagon Alley. Ollivander has sent me an owl telling me that Eve's wand is ready. After that, and picking up a few necessary items around the Alley, you will have afternoon lessons. Danny, you will have, as Professor Krum already told me, an extra flying lesson during lunch. Eve, you are expected at the Quidditch field at 6:oo tomorrow evening for practice. Both of you will attend a Defensive Magic lesson with Professor LaHaye from lunch until 5:30. This time, try not to get lost in the halls. You rather upset poor Lucinda Poffing, reminding her that she's dead and all. _

_Eagerly awaiting his presents,_

_Howl_

Eve blinked. "Where in the world are we supposed to get presents? And what is a Dashing Dragonfly, or a Chocolate Frog for that matter?" Danny shrugged and shoved the letter into his pocket.

"I have no idea." The pair, disgruntled by their workload, trudged off towards the Great Hall. When they entered, the roar that normally accompanied the dinner crowd quieted to a fearful whisper. Eve found Lucifera's eyes boring sinisterly into her head, her cold gaze filled with malicious intent. Eve sighed. She supposed she had gone a tad far, but she had lost control, there was really nothing she could have done. In an attempt at reconciliation, Eve waved cheerily at the girl, who hissed and leapt to her feet only to be held back by her friends. Danny grabbed Eve's arm, shaking his head at her naïveté, and pulled her to the table where Lorelei sat, her lion hat cocked slightly to one side.

"I heard what you did." She said, shaking her head as they sat, a sardine hanging from the corner of her mouth. "Can't say that was altogether smart, Lucifera sure has nargles in her knickers now. But, I still really wish I could have been there." She laughed, her eyes filled with glee. Eve chuckled nervously and glanced at Danny, who was shaking his head, still not altogether sure he believed his friend was capable of such feats. There was a loud crack behind them and Danny and Eve fell backward in surprise, staring up into Dominic's stony face.

"Ah, good. I was looking for you." Eve blinked.

"Really?" both she and Danny asked at the same time, though his voice was tinged with fear. Dominic looked at Danny thoughtfully before responding.

"Yes… Professor Krum wanted me to remind you of your lessons tomorrow at lunch, in case Howl forgot to mention it in his letter." He said, his sharp gaze trained on Danny. Reminded of the letter Eve asked a question.

"Speaking of which, why am I supposed to go to the Quidditch field at six? We got a letter but there was no explanation." Dominic shook his head, sighing heavily, and simply walked away without responding to her question. "Hey!" exclaimed Eve, annoyed. "Hey, I asked you a question!" Her frustration was turning her ears red. "NIC!" He spun at this and returned to the pair, who by this time were standing.

"What did you call me?" he asked, his tone and face calm but his eyes confused and a little annoyed.

"Nic," said Eve brushing her robes off. "Honestly I have no idea where it came from. But it's shorter, and when you're angrily yelling at a receding figure shorter is better." She said with a sage nod of her head. Dominic blinked.

"Whatever; just don't do it again. Ever." Eve frowned.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Dominic pursed his lips just a little.

"No." Eve's face turned a little crimson and Danny thought she might hit him. He turned and meandered off towards his table without a backward glance at the pair. Danny sat and Eve eventually joined him, muttering darkly about people with long legs. Lorelei, who had watched the whole exchange with avid interest, finally spoke.

"You know, I think that's more words than he's said in the two and a half years he's been here. He's a third year." Eve shook her head and Danny tapped her shoulder.

"Don't make him angry," he said, urgency lacing his tone. Eve waved him off, taking a savage bit from a huge turkey leg.

"Yeah yeah." She garbled out around her food before chewing, swallowing and repeating the process as she devoured the meat in her anger. Danny was going to point out that she hated turkey but then simply shook his head and grabbed a leg of his own. Their meal was not silent however, as Lorelei rambled on about her wonderful experiences that day taking care of baby boggarts, and Danny and Eve listened attentively, even if they were unwilling to volunteer any information of their own.

After the trio had eaten their fill Lorelei led them to the very back of the Hall, where hundreds of stone tablets were floating, several feet off of the ground, all of them tinged with a soft blue glow. "What are these?" asked Danny curiously, his hand reaching out to touch one. Lorelei grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"These are portkeys." Eve and Danny took a few steps backward, Danny's face reflecting the horror he felt at the memory of his last portkey journey. "Sometimes I stay late helping out with the school's menagerie. On those nights, I won't be here to Apparate you back. So, until you master Apparition, you'll have to use a portkey." Speaking clearly she said in a firm voice. "Great Blibbering Humdingers!" Eve and Danny glanced at each other as a tablet began to float gently towards them. "That's our password." Lorelei said with a wink.

As one tablet began to float towards them, Eve and Danny saw it was triangular, with each of their names carved into one side. It came to rest floating between the three of them. "Hands." said Lorelei. Eve and Danny, neither of whom wanted to be abandoned in the Great Hall with Lucifera, quickly took hold of an edge. The ride to their dorm was surprising pleasant, much more gentle than their first ride had been; the violent maelstrom now just a tug behind their navels as the portkey zoomed away. The tablet let them off tenderly in their room before vanishing with a soft pop.

Eve fell heavily into her bed, passing out instantly and displacing the kneazel, which resembled a massive lizard-like cat and hissed violently but settled down in a large ball on her back. Danny found Rudolphus had left him a little present on his pillow and tossed the mouse away in disgust. It landed on the floor and he watched as an arm shot out of the shadows and snatched it away, the action followed swiftly by a series of crunches. Shivering, Danny climbed under the covers and slowly fell asleep to the sound of Lorelei crooning to her plimpies.

Eve woke with a start, the uncanny feeling of someone watching her causing chills to run up and down her spine. Her eyes flew open and found an unfamiliar pair staring straight back. She shrieked and jumped up, displacing the furious kneazel and waking everything in the room, except for Lorelei who, when she did sleep, slept like the dead. Reaching into her pocket she brandished the bejeweled dagger at the intruder, her hair falling wildly about her face.

The man laughed and Eve slouched in relief, letting the dagger return to her pocket. "You scared me, Howl." She muttered as he threw back his hood revealing his face. Danny, who was just beginning to realize what had occurred, yawned his greeting.

"Did you get me presents?" he asked, his eyes sparkling like a child's at Christmas. Eve looked outside incredulously.

"It's barely dawn! Why are you here so early?" Howl shrugged.

"I tried to wait, but then I got bored and started Charming things and Sophie got mad, and well, quite frankly, it was a mess. So now I'm here." He looked at Eve expectantly. Eve, who above all else hated to wake up early, glared at him almost contemptuously, running her fingers through her hair. Howl looked from Danny to Eve and back again. "Have you two been sleeping in your robes?" Eve snorted and Danny shrugged.

"What else could we have slept in?" Howl shook his head, tossing his cloak, this time jewel-toned, with flair.

"Yet another thing we must buy today. Get ready, we must away to Diagon Alley." Blinking, Eve remembered the purpose of their visit and fell of her bed in delight. Running over to Danny she held up her arms.

"Clean me." Danny, hoping he remembered the spell right, pointed his wand.

"_Scourgify._" She turned red but looked completely refreshed. Danny directed the wand at himself and repeated the spell, achieving the same results. Howl looked perplexed.

"Don't you take baths?" Eve rolled her eyes.

"We have boomslangs living in our tub." Eyes widening Howl went to look. He practically sprinted back out again, followed by murderous hissing.

"It seems you do. Are you ready?" Eve and Danny took the older wizard's hands after writing a brief explanation for Lorelei and felt the world swirl around them. With a soft pop they arrived in Diagon Alley, ankle deep in snow. The street, which had once been so active, was sleepy in the early hours of the morning and the trio often found themselves alone. They soon found Ollivander's, practically the only shop without a closed sign in its window, and Howl rapped sharply on the door with the butt of his wand before entering.

Ollivander practically leapt at them as they came in, excitement bubbling in his eyes, his snow white hair pointing crazily in every direction. "You're finally here!" he said, pumping Howl's hand vigorously up and down. "It doesn't do to keep an old man waiting you know." Howl nodded slowly, skillfully extricating his hand and pushing Eve forward. Ollivander's eyes sparkled when he saw her, but she still noticed the dark, heavy bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for days. "The combination goes quite well together. You should be very pleased."

Scurrying behind his desk he returned with a long, black box identical to the ones filling the shop. Slowly, he lifted the lid. Eve stopped breathing. The wand was beautiful, a golden orange color that glowed dully in the low lamplight. It was simple in design, the butt swooping inwards for the handle before curving outwards and inwards and outwards then inwards again into the actual wand, tapering to about a third of an inch at the tip. It glistened welcomingly, its glossy surface beckoning her hand.

"Orange wood, fourteen and a third inches, fairy wing core, pliable." Howl's eyes snapped up to Ollivander's gaze sharply.

"Fairy wings!" he hissed. Ollivander simply shrugged and offered the wand to Eve. She looked at the beautiful thing and apprehension filled her gut, knowing this was her last chance to back out.

"Go on." urged Danny. Nodding grimly Eve reached out and gripped the wand. At first there was nothing, but then a searing pain overtook her, filling her being. She gritted her teeth, realizing it was the pact Ollivander had spoken of taking effect, and waited until it subsided. When it did, she was left with a tingling sensation running up her arm, the warmth prickling and spreading pleasantly all along her body, like she was lounging on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun.

Ollivander looked immensely pleased and Howl appeared slightly horrified. "Try a spell." suggested Danny, excited for his friend. Nodding, Eve directed her wand at the lamp and spoke.

"_Frigidus ignis_." The flame solidified, still giving off light but ceasing to flicker. At the end of her spell the wand let off a light, citrus smelling puff that washed pleasantly over Eve and the others.

"Well that's interesting." commented Ollivander, writing something down in journal. "If you could send me any other unique properties your wand may have I'll be much obliged." Eve readily agreed, pleased with her wand, and Howl glared at Ollivander.

"You think it's funny to use my students as guinea pigs, do you?" he growled as he put a pouch of money into Ollivander's hands. The older man shrugged and weighed the pouch before nodding.

"Thank you for your business. It's been a pleasure as always, Howl." Grumbling Howl led Eve and Danny out of the shop and up the street back to Madam Malkin's. She had just Charmed the sign to read open when Howl walked in.

"Oh! I didn't expect to see you back so soon, Howl." He sat heavily in a chair, deep in thought.

"They need pajamas." Madam Malkin raised an eyebrow but dragged Eve and Danny off to the proper section of the store. First she sized Eve up, as she had last time, and selected a package from a shelf. She shoved the package into Eve's arms and told her to go get dressed before retrieving a package for Danny and shoving him into a different stall. They came out moments later and stared at each other.

Eve was dressed in a silk nightie of sorts with spaghetti straps and a matching pair of pants which insisted on changing color every few seconds. Danny was clothed in a black velvet shirt and pants set with silver stitching that had been enchanted to look like a meteor shower. Malkin nodded in approval. "Those should work. They are both lined with 100% genuine puffskein fur, known to be the warmest and highest quality fur on the market, harvested from my very own puffskeins." Madam Malkin's chest puffed out at the mention of the creatures and Danny and Eve nodded sheepishly.

Quickly they donned their robes and the pajamas were repackaged. Howl read the bill with a raised eyebrow. "What's this extra bit at the bottom here?" Malkin sniffed.

"That's for the anti-tearing and self-cleaning charms, both of which I suspect they'll need if they're living with Luna Lovegood's daughter!" Scowling, Howl paid her and they left the shop, both Danny and Eve thanking her profusely, glad to not have to sleep in their robes. Carrying the packages under their arms, they walked down the Alley, which seemed to be waking up around them. People were slowly leaking to onto the streets, and the stores were changing from dark, stoic buildings to brightly coloured, eccentric shops.

"Ordinarily," Howl said to Eve as she pressed her nose up against the window to Eeylop's Owl Emporium, "a wizard or witch is expected to have an owl. Deliver the mail and whatnot. But, I think that your dorm is full enough…" Eve, disappointed, left the store, joining Danny in pressing their noses against another display window, this one to an incredibly brightly coloured shop reading "WEASLEY'S WIZARD WHEEZES: Fun Toys For All Ages!" Inside, lining the walls and most of the floor space, were bins and shelves and displays, all with odd labels such as "Extendable Ears" and "Skiving Snackboxes". A tall, thin young man with red hair stood behind the counter, wearing a suave green dragon-skin jacket; Howl made Danny and Eve jump, walking up behind them and grabbing their shoulders as to lead them away. "Believe me," he said, "The last thing I need is more jokes at my school."

They stopped a massive bookshop, Flourish and Blott's, filled with too many books to fill the shelves; they were sprawled onto the floor, stacked in piles, everywhere. Howl paid for several editions, including _Charms: A Concise Look Into The Ligher Magics_ and _A Brief History of Time_. The latter was a massive book, thick and heavy, weighing enough to make Danny hunch over as he carried his edition out of the shop. "A Brief History of Time?" he asked Howl, who laughed at him.

"Not your stupid Muggle one, about physics and what-do-you-call-it; no, this one is a concise summary of all of the events to happen in the wizarding world in the past two hundred years." Danny's jaw dropped. Finally, after hours of shopping, buying more thing such as quills, parchment, and ink, the great clock above Gringotts chimed eleven; Danny and Eve were struggling to carry all of their supplies, which were weighing them down so much that Howl had to but a Feather Weight Charm on them just so that the two could stand up. Howl turned to them apprehensively.

"I'm afraid that we'll just have to leave now, to be able to drop your things off at your dorm and still be able to make lunch on time." Howl held out his hand; in a flash, they were gone, stumbling out into their dorm, both of them collapsing supplies onto their beds, careful not to spill their many bottles of ink onto the bedspreads. Howl muttered a spell under his breath, and pointed his wand and the piles of supplies; in an instant, a silvery globe covered them, fading away after a moment. One of the nifflers sniffed at the supplies curiously; but, when it took a step too close, it was shot backwards several feet, sneezing in apprehension.

"That ought to protect them," Howl said smugly while Eve jumped up to comfort the poor niffler, fearing for Lorelei's reaction. "Anyway, it is time for lunch; I suppose I'll see you eventually!" With a pop, he was gone, leaving Eve and Danny breathless and tired already.

"I should go to the Quidditch field," Danny said, trying to act as if he wasn't excited.

"I should go to lunch," said Eve, clear onto the fact that he was. Both of them stepped forward to the fireplace; Eve pulled a pinch of silvery Floo powder out of a small leather pouch that Howl had bought each of them to keep on their belts. In a flash of emerald flame, they were both gone, walking out casually into the Great Hall. They were both starving, and Danny stared at the pumpkin pasties wistfully; Howl hadn't let them eat breakfast. However, he still rushed off out of the Great Hall, leaving Eve alone to find Lorelei.

"So," Eve asked Lorelei, eating ravenously, "why did you come to Pronghorn?" Lorelei looked at her, and blinked.

"Well, it's the best private university in the world," came her simple answer. "I didn't want to go to a big university like Rathsack Academy for Students with Higher Magical Ability."

"I mean…" Eve struggled to find the words, "Why come to a wizard college at all? It sounds like everyone got a lot of their training at those other schools." Lorelei nodded quickly.

"Oh yes," she said solemnly. "Not a lot of students go to university after they finish at a school like Hogwarts. But there aren't many jobs outside of the Ministry for wizards or witches anymore…and not a lot of people want to work for the Ministry, especially after what they did during the last Great War…" Eve looked at her confused; Lorelei waved her off, as if it were a subject that she didn't want to get into. Pronghorn is one of the only universities that still trains wizards and witches for the world outside of the Ministry. Rathsack trains Aurors for the ministry- Dark wizard hunters," she explained. "Howl doesn't believe that magic itself is good or evil; he believes that it's all up to the person using it. A lot of people question him, but a lot of people are afraid of him too…"

Eve leaned forward, intrigued. "Why are people afraid of him? He doesn't seem dangerous." But, try as she might, Lorelei didn't answer her; so she got back on the subject of colleges.

"Are there a lot of colleges?"

"Well, not too many. I mean, there are really only three major wizarding schools in Europe- that's Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang- and so there's only two big universities, too. That's Pronghorn and Rathsack. Of course, there's also Berbatov, but that's somewhere deep in Russia, I don't know anyone's who's ever gone there. Doesn't stop them competing in the Inter-Continental University Quidditch Cup, though."

"What's that?" Lorelei huffed.

"Well, here, we have four higher-level teams, and four lower-level teams. Each year there's a competition to see which team gets to compete for the school in the Inter-Continental University Quidditch Cup. It's sort of one step below being professional. Very big deal." It didn't, however, sound like a very big deal, as Lorelei sat unblinking, eating her pudding. "A lot of students play on one of the Quidditch teams here. It's really very competitive. It's a small school, after all. Oh, have you seen my shoe? I seem to have misplaced it…" Lorelei trailed off, investigating her now shoeless left foot.

After a moment of searching, to no avail, to find her shoe- "It'll turn up. These things always do"- Eve went back to asking questions. "So how do you pick your major here? You said you were a Care of Magical Creatures major..."

"Oh, you don't choose. They choose for you, according to how you behave in class. You see, first they'll give you a few rudimentary course, and according to how you, you get assigned a different major. You can pick your own minor, though. I'm a Hexing minor." Lorelei said this with a shallow indifference, choosing instead to play with her fork. "Most people are friends with other people in their majors- they have most of their classes together, after all. You can tell who's who, too." She gestured around the Great Hall, where students in groups as large as two dozen and as small as three or four sat all clustered together.

"Well, why don't you sit with the other Care of Magical Creatures people?"

"They think I'm weird," Lorelei answered, finding her shoe hidden in the inside pocket of one of her robes. "I'm okay with that, though; you should see my brothers."

Danny found the way to the Quidditch field relatively easily, taking a couple of wrong turns but still finding the exit out of the castle with some amount of ease. The snow wasn't falling anymore; in fact, the sun was glittering warmly off of it, making the icicles drip slowly and the trees extend their boughs eagerly upwards. Danny crunched through the snow, keeping a lookout for the Quidditch fields; he didn't want to be anywhere near Lucifera DuMarne or her gang after her outburst in the Great Hall. He rushed down the cliff and across to the same field as the day before.

Krum was already waiting for him, Quaffle in one hand, his sleek golden brrom in the other. He looked to Danny reproachfully, saying, "You're almost late." Danny winked at him, against every fiber of his being, which told him not to.

"Almost," Danny repeated, reminding the professor that he was, in fact, on time. Krum didn't acknowledge him, instructing him to mount the broom lying in the snow. This broom was in significantly better shape than the ones that they had used before, with a smooth handle and a manicured head, the bristles hardly sticking out at all. Along the end of the shaft was engraved in squat, blocky letters, "CLEANSWEEP 9". Danny looked over to Krum's broom, which read in the same place, in elegant, swirling letters, "NIMBUS 2004".

Danny mounted his broom with ease, remembering the position Dominic had instructed him to use as to best balance his weight. Beneath him the broom felt spongy, yet it was firm in his hands as he pushed off from the ground. "Feel ze broom," Krum instructed him. "Feel how one turns ze broom, how one may haffe to move to be nimble." Danny rose higher and higher, Krum keeping pace with him, reminding him every once in a while of his commands.

Krum first had Danny fly up, and fall down at a sharp fall almost perpendicular to the ground; he had him practice sharply turning and maintaining balance on the back of his broomstick at increasing speeds. At first, the shaft of the broom felt resistant and unyielding to Danny, and he found it hard to stop his hand from jerking the broom to the side and making him fall perilously; he breathed slowly, keeping his hands firm and shifting his weight to where he wanted to go.

After a half an hour or so of these practices, Danny felt considerably better at guiding the broom under him, and commanding it when to speed up and slow down. He still felt shaky, though, when Krum called him over to him. He handed him the Quaffle, and for the remainder of the hour that they had for lunch he practiced throwing the rusty red ball back and forth with Krum, who would try and make it so that he couldn't catch it.

The last throw met him dead on, and passed just under his thigh; Danny couldn't reach it in time, and instead sent his broom spinning under him until he was upside down. Snatching the ball as it passed and righting himself again, Danny completed the spin, holding onto the Quaffle, his face red and flustered. He looked to Krum, who looked impressed. "Good," he said gruffly, taking the Quaffle back and landing back on the snow below, the ball under his arm. "Ve haffe missed lunch," he said, a twinge of sadness in his voice.

"Yeah," Danny said, landing on the snow beside Krum.

"Here," Krum said. "Come vith me. I can get us food. You vill be late for your next lesson, but…" he trailed off, as if telling Danny that it was alright that he was late. With Krum looking at him, all thoughts of his Defensive Magic lesson were long gone from his mind. Krum instantly took off, the Quaffle under his arm and his Nimbus 2004 slung on his shoulder, Danny flanking him as they walked back into the tent where Eve and Danny had changed the day before. The leathers lay untouched where they had left them the previous afternoon.

Krum tossed his equipment callously on the snow, where the Quaffle fell almost too slowly and his broom fell with a crack. Danny jumped. "Professor, don't you care more about your broom than that?" he ventured carefully. Krum laughed.

"Of course not," he replied. "Zat broom is a few years old. I fly a Phoenix." Danny laughed nervously alongside him, not sure if Phoenix was a type of broom or whether Krum rode the actual creature.

"Is that what you were riding at the World Cup?" Danny asked, as to clear up the confusion. Krum nodded, sitting down on the bench and untying the calf and forearm leathers under his robes. So it was a broom, then. He looked up after a moment, wondering why he had thought that the swull man in front of him had ridden a phoenix, and held back the urge to gasp, flushing instead a deep scarlet to match his robes.

Krum had taken off his robes, wearing nothing but a pair of black shorts, over which were more leather plates, which he was untying and placing aside. Danny looked over him, struggling to keep his jaw shut while Krum turned towards him. "Can you help?" Krum bade him, turning around so that Danny could untie the knots lacing his breast and stomach leathers shut. Danny stepped up behind him, his legs shaking as if he had been hit with a Jelly-Legs Jinx. His breath caught in his through as Krum looked to him over his shoulder, and his fingers began to pry open the knots.

He closed his eyes a moment, taking in the scent of the man's skin under his hand. It fogged his mind up, and for a moment he couldn't think straight through the fog of enticing scent. _This_, he mused, _is what a Wrackspurt must do_. The scent was like vanilla, warm and smooth, mixed with traces of the man's own musk and the seductive scent of cinnamon; catching it, Danny's breath became ragged with the desire to touch his skin, to feel that warmth…

The leathers clattered to the bench, and Danny stumbled backwards, away from Krum, who stood, looking at him curiously. Danny avoided his eye, taking a brief, almost unnoticeable glace at his naked torso as he stood. His muscle glimmered with sweat, and sharp lines of his body contouring, inviting Danny's eye in wickedly, from his broad shoulders to the web of dark hair spread over his smooth chest. Krum was a big man, thick with toned muscle, and Danny had to fight hard to resist the urge to keep his eye from following the trail of dark hair that led down from his navel.

In a massive effort of will, Danny tore his gaze away from the smooth, lightly bronzed skin of Krum's body and to the corner, allowing the professor time to change back into his robes. Krum cleared his throat, letting him know that it was all right to turn around and face him; he looked regal in the scarlet military shirt and furs. He tapped his wand on the bench; instantly a small meal appeared, steaming in the chilled air.

Suddenly, Danny found he wasn't hungry; he took a step back, away from Krum, who was inviting him with a kind smile to sit and join him. He shook his head, apologize the best he could. "S-s-sorry," he stuttered, knowing full well he was flushing deeply feeling the burn of it in his cheeks. "I-I have to g-g-go…" he stumbled out the tent rather ungracefully, leaving Krum stunned, and, if Danny had seen it right, disappointed. But paying it no mind and wanting nothing but to dash out of there, Danny ran off into the castle, tripping several times over his own feet in the deep snow.

Eve gave Danny a reprimanding look as he stumbled into the classroom some time later, having gotten lost several time along the way. He was shaking, she noticed, but not too much, and his cheeks were enflamed red; he walked over to her, a flash of fear in his eyes. She gestured to him not to speak; and pointed with her eyes at the man standing at the head of the room.

Professor LaHaye was a thin, nervous-looking witch, dark circles under her large eyes and spectacles shoved onto her small, smashed-looking nose, as if it had once been long and thin, but had been broken several times. Her shoulders seemed permanently bent forward, she seemed to give off a sort of aura of timid-ness and caution. She was certainly older, and wore regal, velvety purple robes; so different from the furs they had seen nearly everyone else wearing at (insert school's name here). Her eyes, however, flashed with the air of authority, and she already held her long, rigid wand in front of her, as if Danny had interrupted a demonstration.

"I'm glad you decided to join us," she said, her voice tweedy and watery, just as nervous as her appearance. "Why are you late?"

"Professor Krum kept me late," Danny stammered, looking away from Eve, who perked up in interest. Professor LaHaye nodded, frowning.

"Well, make sure it never happens again," she said, before repeating whatever it was she had been saying before he walked in. "Protective Magic is very important; let's say, shall we, that you get into a duel. How can you protect yourself, I ask you? With a spell to defend yourself."

The next several hours passed somewhat quickly as Professor LaHaye instructed them on the uses of the Shielding Charms and how to turn an offensive spell defensive. Danny found it hard to listen to her; though his hunger hadn't returned, he found his thoughts straying… Eve, on the other hand, was eager, touching the handle of her wand whenever at every chance she could, casting the Shielding Charms just as Professor LaHaye instructed and marveling as it worked for her. She loved the thrill of her hand brushing the sienna wood, the warmth that would prickle into her hand, the feeling of her heart swelling with pride, knowing that the wand was hers. Ollivander had taken back her other, useless wand; she as glad to see it gone.

The sun dipped below the horizon before Professor LaHaye announced that it was time to go. She showed them out, and slammed the door shut behind her, jumping at the sound before rushing off down the corridor nervously, muttering to herself and keeping her head down. "A bit twitchy," Danny commented to her receding back.

"Well, I suppose she's had to defend herself from a lot, if she's good enough to be a teacher and all," Eve mused. They walked back to the Great Hall, Eve marveling at the touch of her wand. "It's really amazing, isn't it, how a single wand can fit a person so perfectly? I mean, what are the chances of finding the perfect one for you?"

"In your case, nearly impossible," Danny replied, giving both of them a laugh as they remembered the hours in Ollivander's shop, as Eve tried out wand after failing wand. "Uh…what was the password again?" he asked Eve, his eyes flitting away from her.

"Great Blibbering Humdingers!" she said firmly. As the portkeys shifted around so that theirs could come forward, she handed Danny a note from Howl. "Professor LaHaye gave this to me at the start of the lesson. Tomorrow we have History of Magic with Professor Lubman in the morning, and Offensive Magic with Professor Calcifer in the afternoon. You have another flying lesson with Krum during lunch; how'd that go today?" Her eyes flashed eagerly.

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny murmured as they took hold of the portkey. Eve raised an eyebrow, but let him go, taking a hand on the portkey with him and feeling the familiar pull somewhere behind her navel as space swirled around her, reforming into the dorm as the stone disappeared with a pop. Instantly Danny tumbled over to his bed and collapsed on it, facedown.

"Are you ok?" Eve asked, concerned, but knowing that it was almost time for her to be in Quidditch fields. Her only response was a short, muffled groan; taking that to be a yes, and very curious about what awaited her on the field, she sprinkled Floo powder on the fireplace and disappeared into the emerald flames, leaving Danny alone in the dorm with Lorelei's small menagerie.

Eve's stomach tightened into smaller and smaller knots of nervousness as she walked towards the Quidditch field, her breath like white smoke in the frosty air. The snow crunched noisily beneath her feet, something she was unused to but altogether enchanted by. She walked for a few moments more, absorbed in the sound of her footsteps, before she noticed a louder crunch above her own crackling stride.

Glancing over her shoulder she found Dominic coming towards her, his lengthy stride causing him to rapidly close the distance between them. Biting her lip, Eve's competitive streak sprang to life and she increased her pace until she was almost jogging. Dominic, who had also been lost into his own thoughts until that moment, noticed her change in speed and, not being one to turn his back on a challenge, also increased his stride. Soon they were sprinting across the snow covered field, Eve struggling to keep up with Dominic's impressive pace.

"Give it up." he panted over his shoulder. "You'll never match me for speed." Eve's eyes glinted with adrenaline, her gaze almost hungry.

"Never, you pompous… you pompous… tree!" she finished, her face red from the passion of her words. Dominic blinked rapidly for a few moments before releasing a wild howl of laughter, tears pouring down his face. Without losing speed he doubled over, clutching his gut as his sides split, spasms of mirth bursting forth from his lips.

"Tree?" he asked incredulously between irrepressible man-giggles. "You pompous tree? All that energy and that's really the best you can come up with?" He threw his head back and roared, his laughter shattering the stillness of the field. Eve's skin slowly drifted towards the volcanic end of the spectrum.

"Well, you're tall… and trees are tall… it was short notice okay?" she snapped, her embarrassment shining vibrantly in her face. Dominic paused a moment to look at her, a wolfish smile on his face before his lips began to tremble.

"Tree!" he exclaimed, guffawing as if he had no shortage to his air supply.

"Shut up." Eve sulked, putting all her attention back on running. When they finally reached the equipment tent and Professor Krum, both were winded and fell to the ground heaving. Krum glanced down at the pair with raised brows, an amused quirk to his lips.

"You know you are early, no?" Eve nodded, winded and glanced over at Dominic. His eyes filled with tears of amusement.

"Pompous..." He whispered one last time before writhing on the snow with mirth, his body shaking with uncontrollable laughter. Eve punched him in the arm in annoyance, which only made Dominic laugh harder than ever, pounding the ground with his fist. Then Krum coughed and both Eve and Dominic were instantly silent.

"You are probably vondering vhy you are here." said Krum, wrapping his furs tighter about his person. Eve perked up a bit.

"Actually, yes, I was." Krum's face was stony.

"Zat vas rhetorical qvuestion. You are here, Mizz Berry, because Luciffera, vhile undeniably a bitch, iz a very good Beater who vill not be able to play because she haz been zuzpended vor malizious and wrongvul use ov eqvuipment. I need a Beater, Mizz Berry, and you vill be taking her place." Eve's eyes popped out of her head and she blanched, her skin turning almost as white as the snow. If Lucifera was mad before this last development had signed Eve's death warrant. Of course, it also explain why she had been so ready to fight her in the Great Hall.

"B-b-but I barely know how to fly!" she spluttered, her hands falling helplessly to her sides. Krum's face turned stormy.

"Are you rejecting my offer, Mizz Berry?" Eve shook her head vigorously.

"No sir, I'm just a little surprised. Okay, well, very surprised." Dominic snorted his agreement and Eve cast him a withering glance.

"You vill be joining ze Zestrals, a top tier team. Ze ozer teams are ze Phoenixes, ze Hippogrivvs, and ze Gryphons. I muzzt varn you, It vill not be easy for you. You vill haffe to practice harder and longer zan effery vone else. Effery day you vill come here from zix until sundown, are ve clear?" Krum's voice left no room for questions.

"Yes." Eve said, struggling to her feet.

"Good. Get dressed." Without thinking Eve offered a hand to Dominic, who was still splayed in the snow, to help him stand. Cursing her southern upbringing, but too polite to remove her hand, she gritted her teeth as he grasped her fingers and hoisted himself up. His skin was dry and warm and his hands completely engulfed her own. As soon as he was stable she snatched her hand back and ran off to the tent to get dressed.

She was lacing up a shin guard when a stick-thin girl with short, spiked flaming red hair burst into the tent flanked closely by a burly young man with a neatly trimmed afro, his thick brown curls corkscrewing outwards from his blockish head. The girl's piercing blue eyes instantly snapped to Eve, who smiled sheepishly, unsure as to the reaction she should expect.

"Hi, I'm Eve… Berry. I'm replacing Lucifera. I'm really sorry for any inconveniences I've caused you." The girl blinked and practically threw herself at Eve feet, her eyes brimming with tears.

"For the love o' Chocolate Frogs… thank Merlin she's nice!" The girl's bony arms flew around Eve's shoulders in a crushing hug before being peeled away by the boy.

"Sorry about that, Ariadne's a little… clingy. I'm Tristan, by the way. Tristan Keel, the other beater." Ariadne snatched her hands away, glaring at Tristan.

"I am no' clingy!" she snapped before offering Eve a slender hand. "Ariadne O'Duffy. Zodiac sign Aries, Hex major, an' seeker for the Thestrals. Pleasure t' make yer acquaintance!" Eve took her hand and Ariadne nearly tore it off with her vigorous shaking.

"So you're not upset?" asked Eve, rubbing her wrist. Ariadne cocked her head to the side, confused.

"Why would we be?" Eve looked down.

"You know I know absolutely nothing about Quidditch right?" Tristan waved it off.

"If Krum thinks you can handle it then that's good enough for me. Besides, we weren' exactly tha' 'tight' with Lucifera, if ye catch me drift." Ariadne, who apparently had the need to clarify, jumped in.

"She's a frigid bitch. One o' these days I'm goin' t' take that fancy little broom o' 'ers and shove it up 'er-" Tristan clamped a hand over Ariadne's mouth.

"You'll have to forgive her. She's Irish," as if this offered explanation. As the two of them were getting dressed the other players entered the tent, greeting Eve with icy stares. They, apparently, numbered among Lucifera's friends and were not likely to be forgiving towards the newcomer. The players, now fully dressed began to file out of the tent, grabbing brooms on the way. Ariadne shoved a heavy broom into Eve's hands.

"She's old, but she'll do until ye get one o' yer own." Eve nodded looking nervously at the rest of the team over her shoulder. "Don't worry about those fockin' goblin turds- I've got yer back." Eve chuckled and nodded her thanks, following the skinny girl out into the snow. Team assembled, Krum addressed them as a group, but not before Eve had caught sight of Lucifera glowering at her from her place in the stands, surrounded by still more friends.

"Tventy laps flying, zen tventy laps running. Stretch in betveen. Go!" The team took off and Eve followed. She was the slowest, but she supposed that was mostly the fault of her broom, and was for the most part very pleased with how she was handling herself. The turns were easy and she even took out her hair band to let the wind whip through the strands.

In the middle of her thirteenth lap, she felt her broom lurch, but merely attributed it to the broom's age. That was at least until she smelled smoke. "Holy shite, Evee!" yelled Ariadne in warning. "Yer arse's on fire!" Eve swiveled her head to seen bright flames licking their way up her broom and towards her. Breathing deeply to calm herself, Eve attempted to ease her broom towards the ground, but it was too late.

Her broom gave out, dropping Eve through the sky like a stone, the pair swirling in a deathly dance towards the ground. Eve could hear the rush of blood and air in her ears, feel the sensation of falling deep in the pit of her stomach and the pain as the flames scoured her legs and fingers as she attempted to beat them away. She could see the ground fast approaching, a sea of white before her eyes. And then it was all over.

She was balanced on a pocket of invisible magic, levitating her gently in the air before tenderly easing her to the ground. Eve looked up gratefully at Professor Krum, who had been the one responsible for saving her life, as he rushed towards her. Eve was vaguely aware of Dominic shouting "_Aguamenti!_" and dousing the flaming pieces of her broom before Krum reached her, stamping out her flaming practice robes in the snow. Gently he examined the burns that laced Eve's fingers, calves and thighs, his brow puckering with concern.

"Dominic." He called. "Take her to ze invimary. Zese could be qvuite bad if she does not get treated. Ze rest of you, practice iz off." To Eve's surprise Dominic complied without complaining, helping her to stand and grabbing a part of her arm untouched by burns.

The last thing Eve saw before they Apparated was Krum, moving like a hurricane across the snow, his crimson robes flapping furiously about in his rage as he charged full speed, uphill, after the quickly receding figure of Lucifera DuMarne, who was clearly trying to suppress her laughter. Krum's square jaw twitched in rising fury as he approached her, grabbing her violently by the robes; but crane her neck as she might, Eve couldn't avoid the feeling of being twisted into a knot as she was swept away in a rush of bright light.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny sat bored in his bed, a crumpled piece of ordinary paper in his right hand, his left hand absentmindedly stroking the kneazle; he paused for a moment, and it let out a loud hiss, its lizard tongue slipping out form behind its fangs; he continued, jumping a moment before settling back into the pillows. The sky outside the few narrow windows in the dorm was darkening; he was beginning to get worried about Eve, but waved it off, figuring that she could fend for herself. It's not as if she could have gotten herself into too much trouble, especially not with Professor Krum there.

He lurched at the thought of Krum. He knew that there was no one around to see his embarrassment, but felt himself flush deeply anyway; his eyes flicked up to the nargle-infested mistletoe above his bed. He chided himself- Krum was a teacher, and although it wasn't the first time he'd crushed on a teacher (he was reminded of his high-school math teacher), it wasn't as if any of them had stripped in front of him. And hadn't Lorelei said something, something about Krum not being into girls? He didn't seem very fazed by Madame Heliot coming strongly on to him. Danny shook the thoughts out of his head; nothing good would come of them. Still, if ever he caught the scent of vanilla, his breath would catch…

He had spent the hour or so before dinner practicing some of the spells Professor LaHaye and Professor Hayeel had given them to study. Lorelei had helped him, offering her assistance while poring over a large encyclopedia and tending the leg of the niffler, which seemed to have broken its leg somehow. He hadn't mastered any of them, by far, before dinner; indeed, his Gluing Charm didn't seem to glue anything at all, and his Shield Charm only seemed to intensify the effects of whatever light hex Lorelei threw at him.

He uncrumpled the typed letter in his fist, flattening it out on his knee and reading again, apprehensively, although he had already memorized it by heart, he had read it so many times. It has come during dinner; Rudolphus flew into the Great Hall- Danny remembered Howl saying that all mail in the wizarding world was delivered by owl- and dropped it on his plate before screeching and flying off, disappearing through the door and down the hall. It had the return address of his parent's house, the house he had grown up in; as his eyes dashed across it again, he sighed deeply.

_Danny and Eve,_ it began, in a familiar scrawl;

_We've just been told that you've been accepted into Pronghorn! That's wonderful! _(at this point in his first reading of the letter, Danny had blinked, hard.) _Of course, you'll be wondering how we know. Professor Howl wrote to us the minute you two arrived, and though we're all deeply sorry, it seems that we have a lot of explaining to do. _

_Danny: Although we're Muggles, we've known about the wizarding world since before you were born. You see, your Uncle Allen was a wizard. We never managed to tell you, and even denied you entry to a lot of good wizarding schools, because we were afraid. We see now that this was a mistake; you see, after the last War, and the wizarding world in the state it was in when you were born, we didn't want you to be in any danger. It seemed better to just keep you out of it all._

Here, the handwriting changed distinctly, from short, blocky letters to a slanted, loopy text.

_Eve: We are both very sorry that you've had to find out this way. We, too, were afraid of what might become of you, what with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named out on the loose again; we, along with Danny's parents, agreed it would be best if we kept you safe, away from the wizarding world. We didn't know that everything was at peace again by the time that you turned eleven, and old enough to enroll in any of the wizarding schools; your Aunt Camylla died in the War, killed by a Death Eater. She was our only tie, as was Danny's uncle, to your new world. We are both Muggles as well, and proud to have a witch as a daughter._

_We want you both to know that we never meant to lie to you. We just wanted to keep you safe. But, try as we might to keep you from the wizarding world, it seems that the wizarding world has found you. We are thankful that Professor Howl took you in; he told us that you will both be able to come home for the holiday after next term. Of course, we all did expect you both to attend college, but we're as we don't think this to be an option any more, we support your pursuit in magic._

_With deep love and deep regret,_

_Your Parents_

There the letter ended. Danny fumed quietly before crumpling it up again and throwing it onto Eve's bed, turning over grumpily to his side. He mused over the words in the letter; they had known, for eighteen years they had known that he was a wizard. He gave them some credit- they were, after all, trying to protect them. From what, he didn't understand; that part of the letter was nonsense to him, but he remembered that Howl had mentioned Diagon Alley being much brighter since the War, and Lorelei saying that not a lot of people wanted jobs at the Ministry after it, either. His eye flitted over to his massive _A Brief History of Time_…he was sure he could find the answer in there, but the effort of simply picking up the book seemed to far outweigh the benefit of the knowledge.

And so instead, he turned back to his wand, picking it up and toying with it a moment before noticing Lorelei's queer plant on her nightstand. She had called it a Dirigible Plum plant; curious, he pointed his wand at it, looking up a particular spell form one of the lists on his bed. "_Herbivicus_," he muttered, watching the plant expand slightly. A small pop was heard as a fruit bloomed quickly on the bush; however, it stopped growing quickly, leaving hardly any change at all. He grimaced, rolling over; he was tired, too tired to resist the seductive charms sleep promised him. He let himself slip into it, his wand hand going limp as he was dragged off into a blissful, heavy sleep…

…and was promptly awoken by the loud calls of Rudolphus, who was intent on waking all three of the dorm's residents with a single, loud hoot. The sun was streaming in; he hadn't changed into his new pajamas the night before, and had once again slept in his robes. He looked over to Lorelei, who was either gone, or never came back. Eve's bed was empty as well, and at the sight of it Danny's brow furrowed in concern. What if she hadn't been back to the portkey in time to take it, surely Professor Krum knew she couldn't Apparate yet… He stretched off the last remnants of his dream, on which he was flying on a broomstick. There was scenery racing below him, but he was only paying attention to the stranger's arms around his as he guided Danny's hands, as he smiled at Danny, his face now a mystery to the waking world.

Having a sinking feeling he knew whom the dream was about, he cleaned himself, feeling the magic rake over his skin and clothes. After a moment of consideration, he stuffed a few pieces of parchment, quill and ink (after all, History of Magic didn't sound like the most hands-on class) into a small bag that Howl had bought for them at Diagon Alley, bearing the school's crest proudly. He cast a pinch of Floo powder, disappearing into the Great Hall, the bag strapped under his fur cloak and against his chest. There were few students at the tables at this early hour, and he sat down at a bench alone, looking around him nervously.

The stained glass window had changed again, now depicting a shining, light blue and crystalline goblet on it, seemingly a trophy, surrounded by darkness. There were two hands reaching out to grab it, and it shone with an ethereal blue light, not dissimilar to the dozens of portkey stones floating in neat lines beneath the window. All around, the students were talking in hushed tones, laughing, or studying with their friends; no one seemed to be alone, and Danny sank further down. He had yet to eat alone, and whenever he had come to the Great Hall, Lorelei had always had a plate of food ready for him.

"Can I help you?" squeaked a small voice behind him. He turned to face the most curious creature he had ever seen, small, hardly up to his waist, with massive eyes, and pointy nose, and bat-like ears. It had appeared as if out of nowhere, and was wearing what looked like a small, velvet tuxedo, making its head seem abnormally large.

""Uh- what do you mean?" Danny ventured. The creature laughed.

"To eat!"

"Um, I guess I could eat some, uh, pancakes?" he asked it like a question, still not entirely sure of what was going on. With a grin and a snap of its fingers, the creature was gone, vanished out of thin air. A moment later, with a small clatter and pop, a pile of delicious-looking, fresh pancakes was sitting in front of him, complete with silverware and a small glass of water. Danny gaped.

"Anything else?" the creature asked, again appearing out of nowhere. Danny shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, uh…what are you, exactly?" The little creature let out a soft "oh!" and squealed. It bowed courteously.

"I am a house-elf, sir," the creature replied with an air of dignity. "A _free_ house-elf," it added, placing a special emphasis on the second word. It leaned in close, as if to tell Danny a secret. "I get paid," it whispered softly, but excitedly. In another snap of its fingers, it was gone again, leaving Danny more confused than he had been before he asked the house-elf what it was.

He looked around; a couple of more students had just sat down at the tables. A house-elf appeared near them to take their orders as well, and Danny sighed. This place just got stranger and stranger with every passing day. The pancakes, however, were delicious. He ate them slowly, enjoying them, before picking up his bag and rushing off to History of Magic.

History of Magic was a dull class, Danny could tell, as he opened the door to the classroom, glad he had left breakfast early. He had gotten lost again, having to ask a suit of armor for directions and feeling really rather odd doing it. Professor Lubman was a short, stout woman, with a round face to match her round body. She seemed jolly, though, as she conjured up a small writing desk for Danny, and began lecturing off of a conjured blackboard. Her wand was short, like her, and snapped sharply as she began to talk about the revolutions of the giants in the early twentieth century, hitting the blackboard with it. She, unlike her predecessors, had not bothered to explain why history was important. She seemed very excited, though, her heels clicking with her jolly mood as she talked furiously.

Danny, in the meantime, seemed to be having a tough time in writing with the quill. After having used ordinary pens for so long, having to dip the large feather in ink every few words seemed ridiculous and annoying. By the middle of the lesson, however, he seemed to have gotten the hang of it. He was the only person in the room, other than Professor Lubman, who was still talking rapidly about giants. Danny's hand ached from taking extremely swift notes, to keep pace with his professor's talking speed, and he rested it a moment, trying to listen intently but being distracted by thought of Eve.

_Where is she?_ he wondered loudly, frowning in confusion. Eve was never the time to miss a class in high school. He wondered if there had been a problem at whatever she had had to do on the Quidditch field the night before. He was brought back down to earth with the small explosion of sparks on his desk; Professor Libman looked at him contemptuously.

"Dozing off on your first day is never good," she squeaked before continuing. Danny grudgingly listened to the rest of the lesson, trying to get his mind off of Eve and wondering what the worst that could have happened was. He remembered what Lorelei said about Lucifera, and the look on Lucifera's face in the Great Hall the day before, and shivered. Finally Professor Lubman seemed winded enough to stop her lecture; before making the desk and blackboard disappear with a wave of her wand, she assigned a nine-inch roll of parchment on the effects of the early giant revolutions of the Muggle community.

"Lend your notes to Evelyn, as well," she recommended as she waddled out of the classroom. "And that essay is due for her as well, on Friday." Danny called down the hall after her.

"Wait!" Libman turned around. "Do you know where Eve is? I haven't seen her all day." The professor seemed completely unfazed while she handed him the news.

"Why, she's in the infirmary. Had an accident on her broom, it seems. I hardly believe that no one has told you!" With a jolly, ironic, but well-meaning and warm, smile, Libman waddled off. Danny's face froze as his mind jumped to the worst conclusions possible. Two voices fought in his head; on one hand, he hoped that Eve suffered only a minor, quickly fixable injury. On the other, a sneaking voice told him that there was something far more serious wrong. He dashed off to the Great Hall, throwing a large handful of Floo powder into the fire and yelling, perhaps louder than he should have, "Infirmary!"

Eve's eyes fluttered open, the world coming into slow focus to find a beautiful woman standing over her, her blonde hair tied back smartly. Eve groaned; her skin itched from where her burns had been, and her hands were tied to the bed as if to stop her from scratching. The bright white of the infirmary made her squint as the world focused itself. Danny was standing beside her bed, asking Madame H worried questions. He hadn't yet noticed that she was awake, and she listened for a moment.

"What happened?" he demanded of the nurse, who didn't answer him fast enough. He demanded the answer to the question again, and Eve smiled calmly at his apparent frustration.

"Danny," she called weakly. "I'm fine." He rushed over to her side, as did Madame H. Instantly the woman began to rifle through her bedside drawer, looking amongst the bottle, all containing curious liquids, for a certain one.

"What happened?" Danny asked, worried, brushing a stray hair from her face. She shook her head sharply, the best she could do to swat him away, since she had no use of her hands. She explained the story to him, about coming to the field only to learn that she'd replaced Lucifera, and about Lucifera's spell. Danny blanched; Eve knew that he recognized that nothing good could come from replacing Lucifera DuMarne.

"An Eetching Fire Hex," Madame H cut in softly, her voice soft. "Well-cast, too. Here, take zheese." Eve opened her mouth obediently, realizing that she really had no other choice. The orange potion tasted bitter, and swallowed it with some level of difficulty. She shook her head, sticking her tongue out in disgust; Danny looked disconcerted.

"What's up?" Eve said cheerfully as Madame H walked over to another bed, which had its curtain wrapped around it. He shifted, and she grew concerned. What had he been up to? Finally he broke down, looking almost ashamed, telling her about the letter that had come by way of owl post from their parents.

"-WHAT?-" The shriek echoed through the infirmary, and Madame H poked her head out form behind the curtain in surprise. Danny clapped his hand over Eve's mouth, knowing that the rage was bound to be loud and long. After the echoing died down, leaving only the sounds of the wood elves' sing and the fountain, he slowly wrenched his fingers off. "They knew this whole time?" Eve seethed, disbelieving it. Surely her parents hadn't known, surely they would have told her! This was too big of a secret, and goodness knows her family had never kept anything from each other before!

Danny nodded mournfully. "They didn't tell either of us." His voice was solemn.

"Why?" Her voice was rising, and she knew it. Danny shushed her harshly before continuing.

"There was some kind of war when we were born, something that they didn't want us to be involved it. They said that they kept us away form the wizarding world to protect us!" Eve exhaled, deflating; she had heard mentions of the war before, and understood that her parents were only trying to protect her.

"Still," she harrumphed stubbornly. Danny smiled.

"How long will you be in here?" he asked, lightening the mood.

"Until deenner tonight," Madame H interrupted, checking to make sure that everything was all right. Seeing that it was, she walked off, her nose high in the air, her hips waving seductively, as per usual. Danny looked nervous.

"We've got homework from Professor Lubman- she seems nice enough, I guess. Jolly," he said dejectedly. "Should I leave you my notes?"

Eve nodded, wondering what kind of homework they would have to do for this class. "It'll give me something to do. What's the homework?" She didn't consider her tethered hands, and then questioned whether or not they would come off anytime soon, so that she might get a head start on studying the notes.

"She said nine inches of parchment on the effects of the giant rebellions of Muggles." Eve blanched; she had no idea what he was talking about, bidding him to lay the few pages of notes on her stomach but a nod of her head. "Just read the notes, I think I took pretty good ones. Oh, and you should practice using a quill, too." Danny looked at her, concerned. "Hey, I'm gonna be late for my flying lesson," he said, turning to leave. "I'll be back right after our Offensive Magic lesson, to get you, okay?" Eve smiled at him, and he turned to leave.

"Hey, Danny!" she called after him, as the flames in the fireplace turned green. He turned, a flash of concern over his face. "Have fun with Krum," she jeered, laughing. Danny flushed, and stepped into the flames, gone in a flash. Eve laid her head back, smiling at Madame H, who had popped her head back out again upon hearing Krum's name. She let the wood elves' song take her into sleep, letting it fill her ears as her eyes drifted slowly shut.

Danny was out of breath by the time he came to the Quidditch field, he had been running so hard in order to not be late to his lesson. Professor Krum was already in the air by the Danny stumbled onto the field, throwing his bag onto the snow. Krum nodded silently to the broom in the middle of the field; Danny grabbed it, mounted it, and pushed off from the ground shakily. Guiding the stiff shaft of the broom was still unwieldy, and for the first half of an hour Krum had him flying back and forth down the field, at varying speeds. His turning slowly got better, and he found that leaning in close to the broomstick certainly helped; soon Krum called him over to him, to where he had been floating above Danny, watching his progress.

For the remainder of the lesson, Danny tossed the Quaffle back and forth with Krum; the professor had barely uttered a word all day, other than to shout instructions every once in a while. The end of the lunch period was marked by the tolling of a bell from somewhere inside of the castle, and finally Krum tossed the Quaffle one last time. The red ball was thrown sharply up, into the glare of the sun; Danny braked on his broom and turned sharply, sliding several inches down the handle as he accelerated sharply up after it. He felt the world spinning around him as he corkscrewed, the wind beating his face until he could hardly keep his eyes open; with a thud, the Quaffle fell into his hand, and he straightened his broom to be parallel with the ground again. He shot off back towards Krum, tossing him the Quaffle. The professor smiled, and dismissed him, deep in thought, his eyes focused on nothing at all.

"Tell Eve zat ze next Quidditch practice iz on Friday," he told Danny as he walked back to the castle. Danny choked back a smile- for once, Krum had nothing bad to say about his flying. "I ezzpect you back here tomorrow." Danny smiled, and walked dutifully back into the castle, readying himself for his first ever Offensive Magic lesson. He looked back to Krum's retreating figure, realizing that the professor had done him a favor by walking him back to the castle; he looked magnificent, his furs falling thickly around him as he retreated back to the Quidditch field. Danny sighed, and turned back into the warmth of the castle.

He had little difficulty finding the classroom again today, trying to keep his head down as he rushed through the vaulted corridors. He slowed to a normal paced walk as he rounded the corner to the hallway where the classroom was; he opened the door, not knowing what to expect to find inside of it.

The back wall was hewn off, as was usual, and the snows were still blowing softly onto the long, rectangular rug that now lay over the floor. Several torches had been it along the walls of the classroom, casting an eerie glow and flickering shadows over the cold stone walls. Professor Calcifer stood impatiently on one end of the rug, and Danny looked him over as he entered.

The professor wasn't a very tall man, nor was he too short; he was shaped somewhat like a barrel, stout and heavy, with wide, almost misshapen looking brown eyes and hi lips were so thin they seemed to be hardly there at all. He wore robes of flaming red and orange, the colors seeming to flow as if he were really on fire. His hair was receding, and looked like though it had once been bright red, had been reduced to an ashen gray.

The moment he saw Danny a wand snapped into his hand; before Danny could react, Calcifer bellowed, "_Incarcerous!_" Robes flew from the tip of his wand, bounding a shocked Danny, who hadn't even had the reaction time to pull his wand. Calcifer walked around him, and Danny tried hard to look at him, his eyes whirling about wildly. "Tut, tut," he said, tapping the ropes; in an instant, they disappeared, freeing Danny from their bind. "You've got to expect the unexpected." Danny glowered at him.

"Today," Professor Calcifer started with a bored ease, "you will begin your studies in the realm of real magic. Magic that can would your enemy, maim your target- save your life," he said, his voice sing-songy, in vast contrast to the words he was saying. "Together we will explore jinxes, hexes, curses of Dark magic," suddenly his voice darkened. "Of course," he drawled, "I wouldn't recommend using any of it unless you have to…

"Now, then, stand there, boy!" he instructed. Danny took his place at the end of the carpet opposite Calcifer, who had his wand raised, pointed firmly at Danny. He raised his wand as well, pointing it warily at his new professor. "Now, then, the best way, I have found in my twenty-odd years of teaching, to learn magic is to use it. Now, then, I expect you don't know a lot of spells yet, only a few days into your tutelage," he paused, as if waiting for Danny to confirm or deny this statement. He nodded, still unsure at to where this was going.

Calcifer sighed. "Very well, then. I suppose we can start with this- the Full Body Bind Curse." Calcifer raised his wand, and Danny's mind raced- he knew this one! Before his professor could bring his wand to the sharp snap that would undoubtedly petrify Danny, he raised his wand and shouted the spell.

"_Petrificus totalus!_" he shouted, and instantly Calcifer's arms shot to be stuck to his body, and his legs straightened and froze; a smile on his face, he fell to the ground. From the end of the professor's wand, still in his hand, a soft blue light burst; Danny's curse fell away.

"Very good," Calcifer said enthusiastically. His arms were flailing passionately. "Very, very good! Now, then, let us see if you can block mine-" Without saying a word, Calcifer pointed his wand, and Danny fell to the ground, frozen solid. His mind whirred I confusion- Calcifer hadn't even said a spell!- but the next moment, he saw the professor standing over him, that brief blue glow on his wand lighting as he uttered, "_Finite._" Danny felt the curse fall away as his legs relaxed. "Maybe I should say the spell first," Calcfier said sheepishly. "Any remotely good wizard could have blocked that. I should give you a bit of warning. Of course, be warned that for most of my advanced classes, you will be expected to use the magic without having to say the spell." He didn't elaborate any further, and instead launched into teaching him several hexes and curses for the next several hours.

Calcifer insisted that Danny show him his Reductor Curse, and kindly offered himself as a target. At first, he was unsure- use one of his best spells on his teacher?- but Calcifer demanded that he demonstrate. Raising his wand, he shouted the spell- "_Reducto!_"- and instantly there was a small explosion. The wall next to Calcifer exploded, leaving a crater large enough to put a fist into. Danny's heart sank.

"You didn't miss," Calcifer reassured him. "I deflected it- one of the advantages of the Shielding Charm, you see," he muttered, investigating the hole in the wall. "Very well cast, very well- most students don't see that kind of progress for several years, far less a few days…" The rest of the lesson went on as the sun began to dip below the horizon, leaving the snow-covered scene deathly and ethereal. Calcifer seemed pleased with Danny, and other than the occasional passive-aggressive remark, Danny seemed to like Calcifer.

At the end of the lesson, Professor Calcifer walked over to him, out of breath but his eyes sparkling with excitement. He had just blocked a particularly nasty Jelly-Legs Jinx that Danny had accidentally made too strong, and was panting as Dany took the letter from. He recognized the script immediately as being Howl's, and opened it. Before he could read it, however, Calcifer grabbed his arm, bringing him down so that the man could whisper in his ear.

"Keep in mind," the professor said, his voice suddenly dark, breathing his damp breath on Danny's neck heavily, "that the Ministry outlawed the teaching of Offensive or Dark spells at every wizarding school in Europe. Of course, Howl got special permission from the Minister himself to allow us to teach them here… but keep in mind that nearly none of the students when they start here know many jinxes, or hexes, or curses. To be as gifted as you are tells me great things about you."

Danny shivered, and tried to pull away, but Calcifer held him close, his queer eyes flashing. "A wizard with such talent could go Dark very easily, my boy…keep in mind, we do not teach ethics here. We simply teach the magic- what you do with it is up to you. You could be great, you know, if you do not bother with labels such as 'good' and 'evil'… there is only you, and what you want, and how you get it…" Danny was, at this point, shaking with fear, the hair on the back of his neck screaming out to him as Calcifer's hot, wet breath panted on him.

Calcifer, having said his peace, let his grip go; Danny fell backwards, stumbling to the ground and scrambling to get away from the professor, who now looked down on him, perplexed. "Well, I think you ought to be getting to dinner," Calcifer said, before making the rug and torches disappear with a wave of his wand. He strode out of the classroom, giving one final, dark look to Danny before closing the door and leaving him alone in the cold silence.

Calcifer's words whirled around in his head like some sort of storm, thundering at him as he lay on the soothingly cold stone floor. He felt the snow fleck onto his face, but made no effort to brush it away; he lay on the floor, his eyes staring up at the ceiling. Lorelei had warned them about Calcifer- part fire-demon, she had told them. Very powerful, and well trained in the Dark side of magic. Danny wondered what that meant- was Professor Calcifer a Dark wizard? And if he was, what did that mean?

Danny voiced these concerns to Eve as he went to fetch her from the infirmary. She looked at him, interested. "Well, what exactly did he say?" He told here again, repeating the words as close to word-for-word as possible. Eve frowned, mulling them over. "Well, at least he complemented you!" she said brightly. Danny was not amused, his face set and impassive. "Look, I'm sure it was nothing," she tried to explain. "What was he like, other than that?"

"Fine, I guess. Definitely excitable, and a little rude, sometimes," Danny said sullenly. "Say, how do you think the wizarding world works? I mean, what sort of jobs are there?" Eve shrugged- how was she to know? Danny repeated the question to Lorelei in the Great Hall, as they placed their orders from the finely dressed house-elf. As the food appeared a moment later, Lorelei thought deeply.

"Well, there aren't all that many, outside of the Ministry," she said, after several minutes of consideration. "I mean, let's say you want to be a trainer for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. You'd have to be a part of the Department for the Regulated Control of Magical Animals, in which case you'd work for the Ministry. If you wanted to be a Curse Breaker for Gringotts, even, you'd have to work for Gringotts, and thus the Ministry…" This question seemed to have stumped the girl, as she scratched her blonde hair, deep in thought.

"Is there a Wrackspurt in here? I can't seem the think properly." Eve and Danny looked at one another, and waved their hands about, finally shaking their heads.

"You are holding onto your wand," Eve told Lorelei, who looked at her, surprised. She had remembered that it had a core of Wrackspurt hair, and that it made Lorelei a little fuzzy sometimes.

"I suppose owning your own shop isn't working for the Ministry. And there are such things as freelance Aurors, they work for bounties and whatnot. But I guess Dark wizards don't really work for Ministry either." Lorelei frowned into her pudding. Danny looked at Eve frankly.

"Lorelei?" he asked, and the girl looked up, straightening the lion's hat on her head, "What does it mean, to be a Dark wizard?" Lorelei looked apprehensive.

"Well…" she began tentatively, "it means that you use magic to harm other people in order to get what you want. It means that you're a criminal, wanted by the Ministry to be put in Azkaban. Or," her voice softened here, "it means you enjoy using the Unforgivable Curses." This last part was so soft that it was just barely audible over the drone of the conversation in the Great Hall. "But," she said suddenly, cheerily, "there aren't many Dark wizards left, after the War!" And with that, she turned back to her pudding. The three ate the rest of their meals in silence, Danny contemplating hard what Professor Calcifer had said him, Lorelei humming happily, and Eve trying hard to get her mind off of whatever it was that was worrying Danny.

Once back in their dorm, Danny invited Eve over to his bed, and showed her the letter. He hadn't yet opened it, and when he did, he craned his neck, so that they could read it together.

_Dearest New Muggle-Born Students Named Danny and Eve,_

_Tomorrow your lessons with me will resume, and you shall a Transfiguration lesson in the afternoon. Daniel, Professor Krum expects you again during lunch. Eve, you have more Quidditch practice on Friday, same time, same field. _

_Howl_

Eve looked to Danny, pointing out the abnormal shortness of the letter and the ordinary size of the signature. It looked as if it had been written in a great hurry; Danny shrugged, and they both decided that it was long past due time to go to bed. Danny fell asleep almost immediately after giving Eve a short list of spells Professor Calcifer had asked him to learn by their next lesson; she took it back to her bed and took out her wand, spending the next two hours practicing both the first few Charms on the list given by Professor Hayeel and the first on the list Danny had just given to her.

By the end of the evening, she could cast a decent Impervius Charm, which she seemed to find sufficient as enough progress for the evening; soon she too rolled over and allowed herself to fall into a heavy sleep. The last thing she felt was the kneazle curling up on her back, purring deeply, hissing on it's exhales. She smiled comfortably, and closed her eyes.


End file.
